President Prabowo Subianto even expects the two nations to engage in joint defense equipment and infrastructure production in the future.

We have seen this kind of intention before. For some time, Indonesia and the Republic of Korea have engaged in deep and meaningful defense industry relations that reached beyond arms procurement and transfers of technology, but also joint production efforts.

Starting in 2010, Indonesia’s aircraft maker PT Dirgantara and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) worked on developing the KAI KF-21 Boramae, a multirole fighter aircraft with stealth technology. As part of a technology transfer agreement, Indonesian shipbuilder PT PAL and Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding also agreed to build a third Nagapasa-class submarine, the KRI Alugoro in Surabaya, with the first two built in Korea.

Within the production of the KF-21 fighter jet, development became obstructed when Indonesia failed to account for its 20 percent share of financing the project. Despite the intended transfer of technology goal, some analysts suggested that Alugoro’s production also failed to substantively empower Indonesian expertise and growth.

This raises the question of whether the defense industry cooperation between Indonesia and Turkey will live up to expectations.

Defense relations between Indonesia and Turkey strengthened in 2010, after the exchange visits of then-presidents Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Abdullah Gül. Starting in 2012, the two nations formalized the defense partnership by convening annual Defense Industry Cooperation Meetings (DICMs), aimed at capacity building efforts and promoting close connections.