The “wings of the motherland” — swa bhuwana paksa as the Air Force motto goes — made me feel proud of having those pilots protect our great nation. However, I also feel a sense of concern and confusion over the Air Force.

It is no secret that the Air Force (and the Air Wing of other branches of the Indonesian Military or TNI) has had unfortunate incidents and accidents. Between 2015 and 2016 alone, the Air Force lost six fixed-wing aircrafts, mostly brand-new, straight-off-the-factory-floor, equipment. In addition, the controversy surrounding the acquisition of the Agusta Westland (AW) 101 caused much confusion, as the President made clear that the purchase of the helicopter had to be cancelled.

But the biggest issue is the loss of manpower. It takes a considerable amount of time to replace any loss of personnel, with recruitment, training and force allocation. The Air Force must keep a balanced amount of personnel, including pilots, ground support, and officers in any given situation to satisfy the minimum essential forces program.

With limited equipment, and a limited budget, one key lesson for the Air Force at its 71st anniversary, is efficiency.

Taken from various sources, the cost per hour of flying a Su-27/30 is just under US$12,000, whilst the Su-35 that is being considered as a replacement for the F-5E/F Tiger II, costs around $14,000. Compare that with the F-16, which costs around $7,000, or the Gripen fighter jet at around $5,000.

Therefore I advocate a more efficient equipment for the Air Force to face the problems in the 21st century: Drones.

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