Le Rafale close to landing in Indonesia

The year had already started very well for the combat aircraft Rafale French, with orders for 18 aircraft for Greece, and 30 new planes for Egypt. It could well become exceptional in the next few weeks. Indeed, the French apparatus is well positioned in several competitions: Croatia, for which France is offering 12 used devices against the American F16V and the Swedish Gripen, as Switzerland, whose call for tender concerns around forty devices for which the Rafale French is opposed to Typhoon European, as well as the American Super Hornet and F35A, must both announce their arbitrations in the coming days or weeks. Finland, for its part, will announce its choice among the Rafale, Typhoon, the Gripen, the Super Hornet and the F35A, by the end of the year, for an order for more than 60 aircraft. But Indonesia could well spoil the Europeans by announcing very soon an order estimated between 24 and 40 aircraft, 36 Rafale being the most commonly cited figure.

Indeed, according to journalist Michel Cabirol from latribune.fr, all that would now be missing is the approval of Indonesian President Joko Widodo to formalize the order of the French aircraft, negotiations between the Team Rafale, the French State and the Indonesian Ministry of Defense having been completed, and the final offer validated by the services of the Minister Prabowo Subianto, who must meet the Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly within a few weeks according to the ministry's services. If this order were to succeed, and there is little reason to doubt it now even if Jakarta's internal politics are almost as complex as those of New Delhi, Indonesia would become the 5th customer. export of French aircraft, after Egypt (54 aircraft), Qatar (36 aircraft), India (36 aircraft), and Greece (18 aircraft). It should be kept in mind, however, that ordering aircraft Rafale by Indonesia had already been announced as imminent in the past, both by French sources that Indonesian, and that the political rivalry between President Joko Widodo and his Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto could once again slow down or postpone the process.

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