Jakarta. Indonesia has signaled that its plan to set up a maintenance center for the Lockheed Hercules C-130 military transport aircraft should see some progress by 2028, according to a government official, although this hinges on whether they can agree on having Kertajati as the location.

Washington has chosen Indonesia as Asia’s hub for maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) of the C-130 Hercules, according to Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, who recalled his recent conversation with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Indonesia has operated the Hercules planes for decades, having received the first unit in 1960, and has even used the C-130 to air-drop aid to Gaza. Jakarta has also pitched to have the center built at West Java’s Kertajati Airport.

Rico Ricardo Sirait, the spokesperson at the Defense Ministry, told the press on Tuesday that the plan was “in the works”.

“We should be able to identify the phases in the coming one or two years,” Rico said, without going into details. 

“We put forward Kertajati as the MRO hub because we can make use of the existing facilities, but we have not shaken hands on a deal as talks are still ongoing. This is for our national interests in advancing our air defense capabilities, particularly in the MRO field,” Rico said.

Asked about the possibility of Washington shifting the offer to close neighbor Singapore in case of no deal, Rico said: “All countries have a chance. Such a decision would be subject to how close the bilateral relations are, so there should be further discussions.”

“Perhaps Singapore’s MRO facility is not as big as our Kertajati center.”

Singaporean defense firm ST Engineering already runs a facility dedicated to C-130 maintenance work.

Sjafrie announced the C-130 plan during a hearing with Indonesian lawmakers last month.

“This scheme doesn’t exist in [other] ASEAN countries. He [Hegseth] offered to centralize the entire Asia’s C-130 maintenance work in Indonesia,” Sjafrie told the parliament at the time.

He claimed that the US would cover the costs.

American aerospace giant Lockheed Martin is the developer of this aircraft.

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