Indonesia to buy 48 KAAN fighters from Turkey

Indonesia will field 48 Turkish 5^th generation KAAN fighters, manufactured by Turkish Aerospace, in a US$10 billion government-to-government deal announced during the INDO Defence 2025 expo in Jakarta.  Deliveries will be complete, according to TAI, within 120 months; deliveries of the first production aircraft to the Turkish Air Force are due around 2030.

This is the first export sale of the twin-engined fighter, which made its maiden flight in May 2024. Securing a launch export customer could open the door to other export sales, believe analysts.

However, the announcement calls into question Indonesia’s teaming agreement with South Korea for the development of the KAI KF-21 Boromae. This has been re-negotiated following repeated Indonesian failures to pay their share of the KF-21’s development costs.

The announcement of KAAN’s sale to Indonesia was made by the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who said, “This agreement, which demonstrates the progress and current level of our national defense industry, will bring prosperity to both Türkiye and Indonesia. I extend my greetings and thanks to my esteemed counterpart, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, in whose presence the agreement was signed.”

This agreement not only includes the delivery of the KAAN but also includes technology transfer to Indonesia, according to the TAI media release. Through this strategic cooperation, according to TAI, Turkey and Indonesia aim to promote knowledge sharing and the development of local capabilities. Additionally, the company adds, the agreement enables “the utilization of Indonesia’s domestic competencies in the production of KAAN.”

The twin-engined KAAN has a reported maximum speed of Mach 1.8, a service ceiling of 55,000ft and a wing loading of 99lb/ft². Its current General Electric F110 turbofans give it a thurst:weight ratio of about .75 at the aircraft’s maximum take-off weight of 76,500lb. The engines, which are used also on TAI’s F-16 Block 30s, develop 15,150lb of dry thrust and 29,000lb with reheat. However, the TAI media release talks about “domestically produced engines”, implying that an all-new or significantly developed version of this engine, developing about the same thrust, could be used instead.

The aircraft is configured for both air-air and air-ground roles and will reportedly be armed with a range of Turkish-designed and -made air-air and air-ground weapons. Its AI-enabled RF sensors, Integrated Electro-Optical System (IEOS), integrated communications and human-machine interface, including a helmet-mounted display and large flat-panel display, will also be manufactured in Turkey under a variety of separate programs. It’s not known whether or not Indonesia will develop or manufacture any of these weapons or sensors.