“Indonesia has not cancelled its order for Su-35 fighters,” Russia says

Moscow did not receive an official confirmation from Jakarta regarding the cancellation for its order of 11 Su-35 fighter jets.

Moscow did not receive an official confirmation from Jakarta regarding the cancellation for its order of 11 Su-35 fighter jets, Dmitry Shugaev, the director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS) told Rossiya 24 television on Mar. 16, 2020.

“There is no official refusal, no one sent us any papers in this regard and did not verbally informed us, so I think this is poorly verified information. We hope that this contract will be implemented, especially since Indonesia is interested in acquiring this aircraft,” Shugaev was quoted as saying.

Bloomberg recently reported that Indonesia dropped the purchase of 11 Sukhoi Su-35 fighters after pressure from the US.

Bloomberg in fact said that an anonymous Indonesian official told that Washington warned Jakarta that buying the Russian fighters will risk the South East Asian country being penalized under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

Allegedly the US offered the F-16 to Indonesia in return but Jakarta is more keen on buying the F-35 instead.

In August 2017 Indonesia announced a barter deal under which Jakarta was planning to purchase 11 Sukhoi Su-35 jets in exchange for Russia buying goods such as rubber, crude palm oil, coffee, tea, furniture and spices.

The country Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said in a statement on Aug. 4, 2017 that “The barter deal, which is under the supervision of the two governments, will involve 11 Sukhoi Su-35 jet fighters and several commodities like coffee, palm oil, tea and others.” Indonesia originally elected the Su-35 to replace Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Udara (TNI-AU, Indonesian Air Force) aging F-5E Tiger II fleet. The Su-35 competed with several western fighters including Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafale, F-16V Viper, and Saab JAS 39 Gripen.

Photo credit: Sukhoi