Constituting a key milestone in the process of incorporating its new Rafale F4 fighters, the Indonesian Air Force has announced that its future first pilots have completed their training courses in France, where they received support from personnel of the French Air and Space Force. In this way, the Indonesian personnel are now also qualified to contribute to the instruction of new cohorts already on Indonesian territory, which will allow the Asian country to accelerate its preparation to begin operating the platform manufactured by Dassault.
It is useful to recall, as we reported last August, that the Indonesian personnel were at Saint-Dizier Air Base to carry out their training, which began on the 20th of that month. There, they had at their disposal not only French pilots already familiar with the platform, but also classrooms, simulators, and aircraft to consolidate their theoretical and practical training; something that also applied to the technical teams responsible for maintenance.
Prior to the deployment of the group mentioned so far, a commission from the Indonesian Air Force had visited France in order to have a first contact with the Rafale fighter during training sessions of the Armée de l’Air et de l’Espace, consisting of six personnel. Their stay on French soil extended over a period of three months in 2022 according to available information, while in parallel, negotiations were taking place in Jakarta to finalize the acquisition of the first fighters. In detail, 42 Rafale fighters of the F4 variant, divided between 30 single-seat and 12 two-seat aircraft.
By the end of last November, it was also reported that Dassault had already completed the delivery of the first three aircraft to Indonesia, with a formal ceremony held at the Dassault Aviation plant in Merignac, Bordeaux. Specifically, these were the aircraft with registrations T-0301, T-0302, and T-0303, all belonging to the two-seat variant of the platform; with expectations that they will arrive in Indonesia only in January of next year.
Finally, it is necessary to consider that Indonesia and France are currently engaged in a negotiation process that keeps open the possibility that the aforementioned number of aircraft may be expanded by 12 to 24 units, forming part of a second phase of the agreement already reached; including a visit by President Prabowo Subianto to Paris for France’s National Day during which no contract was signed.
Image credits: @Armee_de_lair on X
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