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strong>Feb. 8, Online

A total of 12 Sukhoi Superjet 100s will be delivered to Indonesia this year in a deal worth US$380 million, an envoy said Thursday.

Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Mikhail Galuzin confirmed that the business deal had been signed between Indonesia’s Sky Aviation and Russia’s Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company. He also mentioned the tragic Sukhoi SJ-100 demonstration crash that killed all 45 people on board last year.

Your comments:

Revive the N250. Revive IPTN. Then we would not need to import and we would have full control of the technology and could build it up to our standards.

I never said (such technological advances) would be easy. But one giant leap begins with one small step. If we don’t start, we’re not going anywhere.

If you’re talking about military technology, it would be best for any country to be self-sufficient. Name any strong military country in this world. Does it import its weaponry? The US, Germany, China, Israel, former USSR produce their own.

Grab the technology, grab the future. We can’t rely on non-renewable resources forever.

Rio Rivai

Good luck! Aeroflot just reported a few days ago that 40 percent of all technical or mechanical problems affecting its fleet come from the Sukhoi Superjet 100.

Devi

The lack of technology is really not the only problem Indonesia has to face if it wants to access the club of the few nations able to have their own aeronautical industry.

Technological advancement has its roots in scientific advancement, which is possible when a country has good universities, attended by skilled, educated and motivated students. Even the motivation (scientific curiosity for example) seems to be lacking in this country.

So, the “first small steps” necessary are not to start building Indonesian planes, but rather to get educated students who will become competent teachers, who in turn will be able to help raise the level of knowledge and motivation in the schools of this country.

It is going to take generations before our universities reach the standards of our neighbors in Southeast Asia, like Singapore or even Malaysia and the Philippines.

The Indonesian education system is in dire need of deep reform. Corruption is also a problem that needs to be addressed there too.

Filippo