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Buying Mirage fighter jets is stop-gap solution: Prabowo
Speaking in Bandung, West Java, on Thursday, Prabowo said the Mirage 2000-5 was a state-of-the-art jet with technology similar to the Rafale fighter aircraft that the Indonesian government expects to join the Air Force squadron in 2026.
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A Mirage 2000 jet fighter belonging to the Taiwanese air force takes off on April 9 at an air base in Hsinchu, northern Taiwan. (AFP/Jameson Wu )
D
efense Minister Prabowo Subianto has defended the government's decision to buy 12 Mirage 2000-5 jet fighters previously used by Qatar, saying that the move was a stop-gap measure to prepare for the arrival of more brand-new jets from foreign manufacturers.
Speaking in Bandung, West Java, on Thursday, Prabowo said the Mirage 2000-5 was a state-of-the-art jet with technology similar to the Rafale fighter aircraft that the Indonesian government expects to join the Air Force squadron in 2026.
"Our pilots will first be trained with these Mirage jets so when Rafale arrives, they will be transitioned to Rafale," Prabowo said.
The Defence Ministry said in a statement that Indonesia had signed the deal for 733 million euros (US$792 million) with Excalibur International a.s., a unit of Czech defense company Czechoslovak Group (CSG) in January. The planes would be delivered within 24 months of that date.
The deal, for nine jets with single seats and three with double seats, was first reported earlier on Wednesday by Kompas.
The first Mirage 2000s flew in the 1980s, according to the website of manufacturer Dassault Aviation.
The ministry did not mention the age of the jets. It said they would come with three years of support service and pilot training.
