Alberto Gutierrez, the CEO of Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH said: “This week, at Indo Defence, key decision-makers will concentrate on one essential aspect of securing Indonesia’s future – optimising investment decisions around defence capability. For this, and for future generations, it’s a massive responsibility.

“The Eurofighter consortium recognises the importance of this challenge. And this week, for the first time, the consortium will be showcasing a unique opportunity for the people of Indonesia,” he said.

Eurofighter comes to Asia offering the opportunity for Indonesia to fully engage with a programme it believes can deliver air superiority; enhanced indigenous capability, skillstransfer and the foundations for decades of even stronger performance in the military aerospace industry.

“Everyone, when competing for business, will say how wonderful their product is, how fast, how powerful, how versatile it is – and yes we can, and will, make the strongest of claims around the capability of the Eurofighter Typhoon,” said Gutierrez.

“But we are chiefly here to emphasise that, in a country which we know is focused on infrastructure and capability development, we have an even deeper offer to make. We have the experience and track record to demonstrate that, if Indonesia were to opt for a Eurofighter solution, the benefits to the Nation would go far beyond the important and vital issue of national security, they would extend across a wide range of other areas too – and, in terms of increasing intellect and achieving a return on investment, we know how much that matters.”

The Eurofighter CEO said: “Safeguarding the islands of Indonesia is a massive undertaking. In terms of airpower you need an asset that is fast, can fly high, has staying power and which is versatile and reliable enough to effortlessly take on a number of key roles. We believe the Eurofighter Typhoon is that asset."

“Crucially, we also recognise that it is important to foster and develop indigenous capability. We know, that to do that, you need to be freely able to transfer know-how and develop your own highly-skilled workforce which can play a key part in enhancing and developing capability over future generations. We understand that’s the fundamental ethos behind ‘Indonesia Lepas Landas’ – it’s that indefinable ‘sparkle’ in a nation’s eye.”

The CEO said that the Eurofighter consortium, whose core partners are supported by four key European nations, Spain, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom, is ready to work as needed with the Indonesian aerospace industry on developing indigenous capability – but he added that, in the shorter term Eurofighter is willing to discuss and develop ways in which immediate requirements are met.

“We have already delivered a total of 418 aircraft to six of our customers and we are in the process of preparing deliveries for a seventh,” said Alberto. “This, and our existing production capability and capacity across four countries means we can discuss a number of options in terms of what we could offer.”

The CEO said it was “too early” to go into detail about what those options might be, but added that there have “already been a number of useful meetings” between interested parties.

The Spanish-born Alberto Gutierrez became Chief Executive Officer of the German-based Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH consortium after leaving his parent company Airbus Defence and Space just over a year ago.

Airbus is already active in Indonesia working closely with PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) the Indonesian state owned enterprise who supply and manufacture parts for a number of key programmes - both civil and military.