The news that Indonesia is going to buy the J-10 seems to be confirmed.

On the 15th, Indonesian Defense Minister Sjafruddin Shamsoeddin announced at a press conference that Indonesia will purchase a batch of J-10 fighter jets, "they will soon fly over Jakarta."

At the same time, Indonesian Finance Minister Purbaja Yudhi Sadewa also confirmed that the Indonesian Ministry of Finance has approved the budget for purchasing the J-10, with a total amount exceeding 9 billion dollars, "everything is ready, it just waits for these aircraft to fly from China to Jakarta."

J-10 Fighter Jet

However, Shamsuddin and Sadewa did not disclose the specific time for delivery of this batch of J-10s. But even so, this news is quite exciting: If this military sale transaction is completed, Indonesia will become the second overseas country to equip with the J-10 fighter jet after Pakistan.

The J-10 is a third-generation all-weather, multi-purpose fighter jet independently developed by China. Its core advantage lies in its unique canard aerodynamic layout and high thrust-to-weight ratio turbofan engine, which gives the fighter excellent maneuverability.

The latest model of the J-10 has been equipped with more advanced active electronically scanned array radar and integrated avionics system, enabling it to have stronger beyond visual range detection, multi-target attack and electronic warfare capabilities, allowing it to "detect the enemy first and attack the enemy first". The weapon mounting capability has been increased from more than 10 types in the early models to more than 40 types.

Pakistan has already achieved combat success with the J-10

The India-Pakistan conflict in May this year became the most powerful "field test" for the J-10's combat performance: The J-10 fighter jets of the Pakistan Air Force, supported by the Chinese combat system, shot down four Indian Mirage aircraft without any loss of their own.

This battle not only made the J-10 famous, but also allowed Indonesia and other countries to see the excellent performance of Chinese fighter jets.

After the India-Pakistan air battle, Indonesia quickly started the evaluation work on the J-10 and repeatedly released wind of interest in buying through the media.

From the composition of the Indonesian Air Force's aircraft, the J-10 can be said to be the most suitable fighter jet for its operational needs: The current Indonesian Air Force has 33 F-16 "Fighting Falcons", 5 Russian Su-27s and 11 Su-30s, as well as South Korean T-50 "Golden Eagle" light attack aircraft.

But these aircraft are either facing retirement or poor reliability, or are second-hand goods from other countries, for example, 24 of the F-16s in the Indonesian Air Force are refurbished from retired U.S. Air Force aircraft.

42 fighter jets, about 214 million dollars per fighter jet

Therefore, the Indonesian Air Force urgently needs a new modern fighter jet to meet its operational needs.

According to the Associated Press, the Indonesian Air Force plans to purchase at least 42 J-10 fighter jets, each costing about 214 million dollars - compared to the previous rumor that Bangladesh is preparing to spend 2.2 billion dollars to buy 20 J-10s, the procurement unit price in Indonesia is definitely slightly higher, but the account is not calculated like that.

As the saying goes, "you get what you pay for." Based on the price difference, the J-10 purchased by Bangladesh should be called a "basic package," including only the fighter jet, weapons and ammunition, and training courses, etc.

If you want the fighter jet to fully demonstrate its combat performance and achieve the kind of combat results like the India-Pakistan air battle, a "basic package" providing only the PL-15 air-to-air missiles is obviously insufficient. It also requires a complete set of combat system construction, such as a full dynamic command center similar to the Pakistan Air Force.

Full Dynamic Command Center of the Pakistan Air Force

This is also the biggest difference between Indonesia's and Bangladesh's procurement plan: Indonesia wants to purchase not only the fighter jet and missiles, but also a complete and three-dimensional modern air force combat system.

However, if Indonesia wants to introduce the J-10, an obvious problem is that the Chinese combat system cannot be compatible with the French "Mirage" fighters that Indonesia has purchased.

As for how to solve this problem, it is something that the Indonesian Air Force should consider - of course, from another perspective, compared to the previous "multinational" fighter jet models, keeping only two fighter jet models from China and France is a kind of "streamlining" for the Indonesian Air Force.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7561656574176739866/

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