According to Defence Review Asia, Indonesia may scale down its KF-X / IFX procurement from the Republic of Korea (ROK). The magazine claims that the government of Indonesia is looking to save money due to COVID-19 pandemic and the level of investment in the KF-X/IFX combat aircraft project is the one that the government has eyes on. In 2010 the country signed up to pay 20% of the development costs of the twin-jet engine 4++ generation fighter but is now seeking to reduce that to 15%. Jakarta has a commitment to purchase up to 50 of the production jets, which should start to become available toward the middle of the decade.
The total cost of the design and development of six KF-X prototypes is estimated as being around US $8 billion. Indonesia’s original commitment was for $1.6 billion, for which it would receive one of the test aircraft.
The flight test program is on schedule to begin next year. It is due to conclude in 2026 and it is expected that a production order will be placed by the RoK Air Force during this period for the first batch of jets.
