The French Air Force is sending a fleet of its aircraft to Southeast Asia to reinforce France’s presence in the region of major strategic interests.

Dubbed Mission Pegase (Mission Pegasus), the fleet consists of an Airbus A400M Atlas heavy transportation aircraft and three Dassault Rafale B twin-seater heavy jet fighters.

Also part of the mission is a C-135 FR refueling aircraft and an Airbus A310 jetliner.

The fleet will arrive at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base on Sunday, making Indonesia its first stop on a tour that will send 100 French airmen to Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, India and the United Arab Emirates before returning home to France.

The fleet is on its journey home from the three-week Exercise Pitch Black in Australia, in which the Indonesian Air Force also participated by sending its Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon light jet fighters.

French ambassador to Indonesia Jean-Charles Berthonnet said the mission was important as the two countries signed a strategic partnership in 2011.

He told a press briefing that France and Indonesia wanted a stable Indo-Pacific region, especially with the current geostrategic reality.

Berthonnet said that Mission Pegase showcased France’s abilities to project its military — through a long distance deployment — and in facing complex situations, such as the recent earthquakes in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

France is not a new player in the Indo-Pacific region, having a presence in both oceans and a number of territories, such as La Reunion and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean and New Caledonia and Tahiti in the Pacific Ocean.

The mission commander, Lt. Gen. Patrick Charaix, said the visit was not aimed at trying to sell any weapons to Indonesia as it would be the manufacturer’s job.

Charaix said the mission was just showcasing French Air Force assets in both attack and transportation missions.

He also revealed that there was a request by the Indonesian authorities to use the four-turboprop engine A400M Atlas to transport some 35 tons of humanitarian aid to Lombok.

“We do have the capability and we just need the clearance from Paris,” he said, saying the request had been dispatched to the relevant French authorities.

Charaix, however, said such a request had to be carefully planned so as not to interfere with the mission’s already packed schedule.

“But we are not here to sell the jet fighter, we just want to share Rafale’s capabilities with our partners,” said Charaix.

Meanwhile, it is a different case with the A400M, as PT Pelita Air Service signed a letter of intent to buy two of the heavy transportation aircraft to transport goods to Papua as part of the One Price Policy.

State trading firm PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia will be the user and the Indonesian Air Force will be the operator of the A400M.

When asked about how far negotiations have gone, Airbus head of A400M marketing Eduardo Pellicer said the contract had yet to be signed.

“I have to refer the question to the customer,” he said.

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