Recently, the Indonesian Minister of Defense explained to France that his country wanted to arm itself to counter the Chinese threat. According to some sources, Jakarta is interested in buying up to 48 Rafale fighter jets, 4 Scorpene submarines and 2 Gowind corvettes.

 Rafale fighter jet (Picture source: Air Recognition)

The visit to Paris on Monday of the Minister of Defense of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto, an ex-general reputed to be Francophile, was deemed constructive even if we must remain very cautious at this stage.

These purchases could be made through an intergovernmental agreement between France and Indonesia, which wishes to go quickly. For the record, in 10 years, Paris has sold 1.36 billion euros in military equipment to Jakarta, with a peak in 2013 (480 million euros).