Indonesia receives three more Sukhoi combat fighters

By MARTIN SIEFF

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- The Indonesian air force Monday officially confirmed its acquisition of three Russian-built Sukhoi Su-30MK2 (NATO designation Flanker) multirole combat fighters, RIA Novosti reported.

Russia delivered the three aircraft on Dec. 26 and Jan. 17. Since then, the Sukhoi fighters were put together from their kits and have carried out test flights, RIA Novosti said. The aircraft were built and delivered for the relatively low cost of $300 million under a deal that was concluded in 2007, the report said. The Kremlin also has agreed to deliver a further three Sukhoi Su-27SKM fighters to Indonesia this year and next year, the report said.

Before the current delivery, the Indonesian air force was already operating two Sukhoi Su-27SK and two Sukhoi Su-30MK combat fighters, the news agency said.

"We hope for further contacts in the defense sphere with Russia," RIA Novosti quoted a senior Indonesian Defense Ministry official as saying at the handing-over celebration at the city of Makassar.

The Russian report said the three Sukhoi fighters would be flown by the Indonesian air force's 11th Squadron and that they would be flown out of Sultan Hasanuddin Air Base on Sulawesi Island.

The Sukhoi deal continues the pattern of steadily increasing conventional arms sales by Russia to Indonesia that we have monitored in these columns over the past four years. The Indonesian arms market has been dominated by the United States for most of the past 40 years.