During a meeting with Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto on Thursday, United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin underlined the need to help Indonesia modernize its armed forces.

In a statement, the Pentagon said the two ministers had discussed their shared intention to increase defense capabilities "like fighter aircraft upgrades, new multi-role fighter aircraft and additional fixed and rotary wing transport aircraft".

Prior to the meeting, Prabowo witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding committing to the purchase of two dozen F-15EX fighter jets from Boeing at the company's St Louis facility on Monday. The following day, he oversaw another deal between state-owned aerospace company PT Dirgantara Indonesia and Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky unit on the purchase of 24 GFA-type helicopters.

No details of the final prices were provided, but a Feb. 10, 2022, offer from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency quotes the price of 36 F-15EXs at US$13.9 billion. The Black Hawk choppers reportedly cost about $10.2 million each.

Air Force chief Air Marshal Fadjar Prasetyo told Antara the delivery of the two squadrons of the brand new F-15EX, the most advanced of the F-15 series, would take about six years. That means if the procurement process started today, the Indonesian Air Force would only start operating the all-weather multirole strike fighters in 2029.

Since becoming defense minister in October 2019, Prabowo has been traveling the world to talk with international arms producers, with the modernization of the TNI in mind. Before the America trip, his defense diplomacy resulted in the purchase of 42 Rafale multirole jet fighters from French company Dassault Aviation and 12 used Mirage 2000-5, an older product of Dassault, from Qatar.

The shopping spree, if the deals are carried through, will give a significant boost to the country’s defense capabilities amid fears about the implications of great power rivalry in the Indo-Pacific region. Indonesia has been championing peace in the region through ASEAN in particular, but military readiness cannot be disregarded.

If all the fighter jets, warships and submarines Indonesia has ordered arrive, the country will be able to augment the deterrence it needs to protect not only its population and territorial sovereignty but also international sea lanes.

Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) think tank shows that for the past decade, Indonesia's defense spending per capita – and as a percentage of gross domestic product – has been the lowest of Southeast Asia's six emerging market economies. The arms purchases of the last few years have aimed to meet the government’s Minimum Essential Force (MEF) target before a deadline next year.

The Jokowi government’s heavy reliance on the West to achieve the MEF target was dictated mostly by practicality, as the TNI’s primary weapons systems were built on military technologies from the US and its allies in the post-Cold War era. Indonesia did once buy Sukhoi jets from Russia in 2001, but only because Washington slapped an arms embargo on Jakarta, citing its poor human rights track record.

The US’ approval of the sale of the 24 F-15EXs to Indonesia marks the full restoration of defense cooperation between the two countries. For Indonesia, the partnership is crucial for the development of the domestic defense industry, while for Prabowo, his part in normalizing military ties between the two countries constitutes an achievement, given that he was among the Indonesian generals Washington blacklisted for their alleged roles in past atrocities.

To some extent, Prabowo’s defense diplomacy has helped Indonesia strike a geopolitical balance amid the rivalry between the US and China, Indonesia’s most important trading partner today. An emerging market like ours needs both of the giants, and our chief interest is to prevent a clash of the titans from occurring.