Indonesia on Tuesday announced it had bought drones from a prominent Turkish defense manufacturer, marking the latest in a series of purchases aimed at modernizing the country's aging military equipment.
The deal with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) for 12 new unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is worth some $300 million, Indonesia's defense ministry said in a statement.
The agreement comes after Indonesian President Joko Widodo in July warned his Cabinet to maintain a "healthy" budget as he highlighted outsized spending by the country's security agencies, including the Defense Ministry.
In January, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto sealed an $800-million deal to buy 12 Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets, which drew criticism as they were considered too old. Indonesia in February also bought 42 Rafale fighter jets for $8.1 billion, which will be disbursed in phases over several years.
At 134.3 trillion rupiahs ($8.89 billion), the Defense Ministry has the biggest allocation from the country's total budget this year, according to government data.
The deal with Ankara-based TAI was finalized in February and the drones are expected to be delivered within 32 months of the signing. It also includes training and flight simulators, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The statement did not clarify which drones have been agreed on, but media reports cited TAI General Manager Temel Kotil as saying that the agreement would cover the company's Anka combat UAVs.
Indonesia earlier expressed its interest in the medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) class drone, with all-weather day and night reconnaissance abilities, target detection and identification, and intelligence missions, featuring autonomous flight capability, including automatic takeoff and landing.
It can remain in the air for up to 30 hours and boasts a 250-kilometer (155.34-mile) firing range capacity.
Kotil last month said six of the drones would be manufactured in Türkiye and delivered in August. The remaining six, along with technology transfer, will be produced in Indonesia, said the official.
TAI currently produces five Ankas per month but plans to boost the capacity in the coming period to meet growing foreign demand. The drone has already been sold to Tunisia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Algeria and Chad.
TAI has been expanding efforts to ensure a greater presence in the Asian market in new-generation technologies, particularly in the field of the defense industry and aviation.
It already has an office in Indonesia and opened an engineering and design office in Malaysia back in November 2021 to explore opportunities for defense and aviation projects, including UAVs, jet trainers and helicopter development.
TAI in May announced it had signed a deal worth some $100 million for three of its Anka drones.
TAI meanwhile is also engaged in the development of a flying-wing, deep-strike stealth unmanned fighter jet, Anka-3. It is also manufacturing the Aksungur combat drone.
Its project portfolio also includes Hürjet, Türkiye's domestically developed advanced jet trainer and light attack aircraft, and close air support and the training aircraft, Hürkuş.
The Hürjet project initially kicked off in 2017, and the jet made its maiden flight in late April.
The T129 Tactical Reconnaissance and Attack Helicopter, or Atak, as well as the indigenous multirole helicopter, the T625 Gökbey, are also among its pioneering projects.
Development of Atak's successor, Atak 2, which marks Türkiye’s first domestically developed heavy-class attack helicopter, is also underway. The chopper became operational in late April.
Türkiye's first home-grown 5th-generation fighter jet is TAI's most important project. Named KAAN, the warplane made a runway debut and completed its first taxi test after becoming operational in mid-March.
The aircraft, seeking to perform its maiden flight soon, has been developed to replace the F-16s in the Air Forces Command’s fleet and are planned to be phased out starting in the 2030s.