Jakarta. Russia is holding out hope of getting Indonesia to actually buy its Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets, although years have passed since the contract signing. 

Jakarta had inked a contract worth $1.14 billion to procure 11 units of Sukhoi Su-35 fighters in February 2018. US sanctions over Russian military deals have reportedly discouraged Indonesia from moving forward with the plan. Even so, Moscow to this day insists that the deal is not dead.

“Military cooperation is still a natural part of our bilateral ties. Contracts and discussions about the Sukhoi [Su-35] are still on the table," Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Sergei Tolchenov told a news conference in his residence earlier this week.

The diplomat chose not to disclose the details of the discussions, citing that it is a bilateral matter. Tolchenov added that Indonesia would “maybe see more Russian planes one day”.

Since the contract signing, some foreign fighter jets have joined Indonesia’s fleet. The latest being six of the initial French-made Rafale fighters. Indonesia has ordered 42 units of the Rafales. Its maker, Dassault Aviation, has split the delivery of the multi-role combat aircraft into batches. The Prabowo Subianto administration’s first major arms purchase was also for 48 of Turkey’s KAAN fighters. 

However, a free-falling rupiah is now testing President Prabowo Subianto’s military modernization agenda following the US-Iran war. The currency closed at Rp 17,922 per dollar on Friday. The Defense Ministry’s annual budget for 2026 alone comes in at Rp 187.1 trillion ($10.5 billion), and almost Rp 83.5 trillion (nearly $4.7 billion) goes to military modernization. The yearly budget allotted for defense purposes alone is at Rp 337 trillion (approximately $18.9 billion).

Rahma Gafni, an economics professor at Airlangga University, had told the Jakarta Globe that military procurement is highly vulnerable to currency fluctuations as it is heavily dependent on imports and foreign financing.

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