The deal was signed during the visit of French Defense Minister Florence Parly to Jakarta, where she met her Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto.

 

It is part of Prabowo’s latest push to modernize Indonesia’s primary weapons system, as he proposed spending over US$100 billion in the next three years to upgrade its military arsenal. 

 

Since he was appointed as defense minister in President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s Cabinet, Prabowo has been leading efforts to strengthen Indonesia’s military posture amid greater security challenges in the region, including in Indonesia’s North Natuna Sea, which borders the highly disputed South China Sea.

 

In December, the Air Force stated that the government had narrowed its choice to buy more modern 4.5 generation Rafale and United States-made F-15 jets, abandoning the existing contract to purchase Russian-made Sukhoi Su-35, also a 4.5 generation fighter.

 

"Indonesia's choice to use the Rafale aircraft shows Indonesia's trust in France and is proof that the strategic partnership between the two countries is very strong and dynamic [...],”  Parly said as quoted in a statement from Prabowo’s office.

“And France hopes that this cooperation contract can be activated as soon as possible.”

 

In addition to purchasing the fighter jets, Indonesia had also expressed its intention to buy two French-made "Scorpene" submarines, Parly said.

 

Thursday’s meeting also saw the signing of several agreements, including cooperation in research and development of submarines between state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL and the Naval Group and the manufacture of large-caliber and medium-caliber munitions between state-owned weapons manufacturer PT Pindad and Nexter Munition.

 

During Parly’s courtesy call with the President also on Thursday, Jokowi said he hoped that defense cooperation between the two countries would not be limited to the purchase of defense equipment, but also on joint development and production, technology transfer and investment in the defense industry.

 

In the past few months, bilateral engagement between Indonesia and France has been intensifying at all government levels, including the meeting between Jokowi and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rome, Italy in October last year.

This was followed by a visit of French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to Jakarta in November, during which the two countries extended the strategic partnership agreement until 2027. Jakarta and Paris at the time also agreed to intensify their communications, particularly this year when Indonesia and France hold the presidency of the G20 and the European Union, respectively.

 

In June, Prabowo was in Paris to meet Parly, where they signed a defense cooperation agreement (DCA), which laid the foundation for the agreements made on Thursday. 

 

“Currently, the status of our bilateral relations in the defense sector is at the highest status. [...] Of course, this requires ratification from our legislature to be carried out properly," Prabowo said in a statement.

 

The two countries also recently announced that it would develop a 2+2 dialogue mechanism between defense ministers and foreign ministers. 

 

"Our 2+2 dialogue mechanism will become a strategic forum to realize the vision of a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific," Jokowi said.

 

Having presence in the Indo-Pacific through its overseas territories where 1.5 million of its citizens live, France is offering a vision for “a stable multipolar order” in the region, with the aspiration to be a “stabilizing mediating power”.

 

In a separate meeting with Parly on Thursday afternoon, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said Indonesia was seeking concrete cooperation under the four priorities in the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, which are maritime cooperation, connectivity, sustainable development goals and trade and investment.

 

“These are the most important priorities for cooperation,” Retno said.

 

Indonesia has previously had a 2+2 mechanism with Australia and Japan, and another 2+2 dialogue with the United States at senior official level. Indonesia and France are expected to start convening 2+2 meetings next year. 

Indonesia's first order for French jet fighters comes as Jakarta replaces an aging fleet -- consisting mainly of American F-16s and Russian Sukhois, AFP reported.

Indonesia is also participating in a South Korean program to develop a 4.5-generation warplane called the Korea Fighter Xperiment/Indonesia Fighter Xperiment (KFX/IFX) and reportedly considering buying some American F-15EX jets, also with 4.5-generation technology.

The deal with France comes as Paris, which views itself as a global maritime power, seeks to expand geopolitical ties in the Indo-Pacific after the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia created a new strategic alliance last year called AUKUS, which includes equipping Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, Reuters reported. The issue is sensitive for France following Australia's cancellation of a multi-billion dollar submarine deal last year with Paris, which accused its allies of backstabbing.

Indonesia's first order for Rafale aircraft would make Indonesia the second state in the Indo-Pacific region after India to rely on the jet produced by Dassault Aviation, Reuters reported.