Jakarta, (Antara) - The Defense Ministry said it is renegotiating cooperation program with South Korea to build 4.5 generation fighter aircraft.
Indonesia signed a deal with South Korea in January 2016 to jointly develop the fighter jets named Korean Fighter Xperiment or Indonesia Fighter Xperiment (KFX/IFX) in January, 2016.
Under the deal signed with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), Indonesia's Defense Ministry will invest about US$1.3 billion in the Korean Fighter Experimental (KF-X) program.
The investment from Indonesia will account for about one fifth of the total cost of the project, with up to 100 Indonesian workers taking part in development and production.
Chief spokesman of the Defense Ministry Brig.Gen Totok Sugiharto said Indonesia wants to be clear about a number of points in the deal as it involves state budget.
"The renegotiation is necessary to make clear Indonesia's gain from the program as the project would financed with fund from the state budget," Totok said here on Monday.
Totok said the aircraft would be jointly produced, expected to start in 2016, but Indonesia may not sell the aircraft to other countries.
In addition Indonesia may not produce components although some of the components for the IFX could be produced locally, to facilitate transfer of technology, he said.
He went on to say Indonesia saw no prospect of the cooperation program especially with the intervention from the United States restricting research program to produce fighter aircraft.
The country would rather provide the fund to expand the state-owned aircraft maker PT DI to build facility for fighter aircraft production, he said.
He said the Indonesian government did not want the country to continue to depend on other countries for its fighter aircraft.
The cooperation plan was already announced by Korea in 2001 and a memorandum of understanding on the program was signed in 2012.
Earlier this month, in an interview with Antara , Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Kim Chang-beom said that South Korea and Indonesia would continue cooperation in the production of fighter aircraft of 4.5 generation KFX/IFX.
The government of South Korea has continued consultation with Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu about the construction of the fighter aircraft that could not be detected by radar like the Stealth aircraft, the ambassador said.
The KFX/IFX aircraft project is a long term cooperation plan between South Korea and Indonesia to develop self reliance in defense industry, he added.
He said he was not aware of any official decision to cancel the agreement.
Indonesia and South Korea already have big deal underway in the defense industry . Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) already delivered two units of submarine for the Indonesian navy.
A third unit is being built in Indonesia's PT PAL in Surabaya where more Indonesian technicians would be involved to receive transfer of technology.
Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said the assembling of one of the submarines in the shipbuilding facility of PT PAL is to facilitate transfer of technology.
Indonesian technicians are involved in the building the submarine at PT PAL under the supervision of Daewoo.(*)
