Indonesia Offers to Buy All 15 of Austria's Typhoon Fighter Jets

Indonesia's defense minister, Prabowo Subianto, has sent a request to Austria's defense minister, Klaudia Tanner, to buy the European nation's entire Eurofighter Typhoon jet fleet, which counts 15 of the jets.

The move is a surprising one, but Subianto stressed that the move would help to modernize the Indonesian Air Force. 

Air Force to Air Force

Austria retired its entire fleet of Eurofighter Typhoons this year, as part of the decision taken in 2017. The central European nation hopes to create a more effective and cost-effective solution to its defense system, says Defense News.

The reason it's quite surprising for Indonesia to make this request is that it comes just two weeks after the U.S. State Department announced it had cleared the country to buy its Bell-Boeing MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft. 

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Moreover, it's also surprising given Indonesia and Russia had been in talks about Russia selling its Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker interceptor to it. According to Defense News, Indonesia has been reluctant to sign the $1.14 billion deal with Russia for its jet as it may be subject to U.S. sanctions.

It's no news, though, that Indonesia has been looking for fighter jets to accompany its 23-strong fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcon jets, purchased from the U.S. National Guard.

Time alone will tell whether or not the deal between Austria and Indonesia over the Typhoon jets will see the light of day, but if the jets are going out of work this year anyway, it could be a good deal to sell them on. Not everyone can fix a fighter jet on local ground, so it may take buying them for other countries.