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Govt delays purchase of used fighter jets, citing fiscal constraints
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Mirage 2000 fighter jets fly during a military parade to mark a Qatari celebration in 2018.
(AFP/Getty Images/Karim Jaafar)
T
he government has postponed a plan to purchase 12 Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets from Qatar because of budget limitations, the Defense Ministry has said.
Defense Ministry spokesperson Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak made the comments in a panel interview on the TV One television network on Monday.
"The government, in this case the Defense Ministry and the Finance Ministry, has delayed the purchase of the Mirage jets because our fiscal capacity, for the time being, cannot support such a purchase," Dahnil said, adding that the military would order retrofits for its existing Sukhoi and F-16 planes instead.
Dahnil did not respond to The Jakarta Post’s request for further comment, while Finance Ministry director general for budget Isa Rachmatarwata referred the question to Dahnil's office.
The announcement came ahead of the third election debate, slated for Sunday night, and as the camps of presidential contenders Ganjar Pranowo and Anies Baswedan criticize the country’s increase in defense spending since frontrunner Prabowo Subianto became defense minister.
In June of last year, the Defense Ministry announced that it had signed a deal in January, worth some 733 million euros (US$801.68 million), for the used Mirage jets with Excalibur International, a unit of Czech defense company Czechoslovak Group (CSG). The company was acting as an agent for the sale, and the jets were set to be delivered within 24 months of the signing.
Read also: RI buys used jet fighters for $800 million despite criticism
