Austria will enter negotiations with Indonesia for the sale of 15 Eurofighters.

Indonesia has expressed interest in acquiring Austria’s fleet of Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets, in yet another surprise defense procurement plan from the Southeast Asian country.

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Austrian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft. (Picture source: Austrian Air Force)

On a letter dated September 4 2020, a copy of which was obtained by The Jakarta Post, the Austrian Minister of Defence, Klaudia Tanner, said she wanted to enter into specific sales negotiations with her Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto.

The Eurofighter is a rather questionable fit for the Indonesian Air Force, as the aircraft would require different infrastructure compared to the F-16s, Su-27s and Su-30s currently in service.

Two options are available for the sale to proceed. First, the Eurofighter consortium will have to issue an end-user certificate to Indonesia and Austria will sell the jets directly to Indonesia. Alternatively, Airbus will buy back the planes, upgrade them and sell them to the South East Asian nation instead.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard–delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo that conducts the majority of the project through a joint holding company, Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH. NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency manages the project and is the prime customer.