The selection of the French offer based on 12 Rafale used from Croatia was received with some bitterness in the United States. To be convinced of this, it is enough to read the specialized Anglo-Saxon press concerning this acquisition to understand that the choice of Zagreb in favor of Rafale Used F3Rs and not new F16Vs shake up certain certainties across the Atlantic. And obviously, the United States, and Lockheed-Martin in particular, have no intention of reliving in the future what they perceive as a humiliation. This is particularly the case in Indonesia in the context of the modernization of the Indonesian air forces, regarding which the authorities in Jakarta and Paris appear to be moving quickly to resolve the remaining obstacles, in this case financial, to place an order estimated at 36 Rafale.
Indeed, the American authorities have just authorized Lockheed-martin to start negotiations for the sale of F16 Block 70/72 Viper with Jakarta, once again putting the Rafale on the way to the American plane. With the Indonesian Air Force using 33 F16 C/Ds, Lockheed's commercial teams believe that it would be much simpler and more economical for them to switch to a Viper fleet than to acquire a new aircraft, in this case THE Rafale. However, and notwithstanding the gap between Jakarta's ambitions in terms of acquiring defense equipment and the budgetary reality of the Indonesian armed forces, the country's air forces had announced that it ultimately aimed to implement a fleet of 170 combat aircraft composed of several models of hunters.
75% of this article remains to read,
Subscribe to access it!
The Classic subscriptions provide access to
articles in their full version, and without advertising,
from 6,90 €.
Newsletter subscription
Register for the Meta-Defense Newsletter to receive the
latest fashion articles daily or weekly