Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently discussed defense ties over the phone as Indonesia awaits its fighter jets.

The call highlighted burgeoning defense cooperation and commerce activities, according to Turkey’s communications department on Monday night, without going into details. 

“Drawing attention to the importance of the improvement of the cooperation between Turkey and Indonesia in many areas, trade and defense industry in particular, President Erdogan said that they will continue to take steps to that end,” the department wrote.

Aside from defense, the leaders exchanged views on global issues. Erdogan also invited Prabowo to join the UN climate summit COP31 in Antalya in November.

In Prabowo’s first year, Indonesia sealed a contract to buy 48 units of the Turkish-made KAAN fighter jets. Indonesia became the first foreign buyer of the fifth-generation fighters, which are still under development by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI). Turkish media reports claimed that the contract had a price tag of over $10 billion. The purchase also came amid Indonesia’s attempt to revamp its aging military hardware.

The timeline of the Indonesia-bound delivery remains unclear.

However, the Turkish Air Force is expected to receive the first batch of the homegrown warplanes by the end of 2028.

Indonesia-Turkey trade skyrocketed by over 36% year-on-year to almost $1.9 billion between January and July 2026, government data showed. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy ran a $924.3 million surplus, driven by stainless steel exports.

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