The Indonesian Ministry of Defense emphasized that the Indonesian government had never canceled the contract to purchase 11 Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E jet fighters from Russia. This was revealed directly by the Deputy Minister of Defense, Wahyu Sakti Trenggono, Wednesday (3/18/2020).

Trenggono also dismissed rumors that said that the purchase of a 4.5 generation fighter was threatened to be canceled because of sanctions from US officials.

"We have never canceled," Trenggono said, as quoted by CNNIndonesia.com on Wednesday.

However, Trenggono did not dismiss that at this time Indonesia could not buy the jet fighter from Russia. He said, there were still some obstacles in the plan to purchase a combat engine with the NATO Super Flanker code.

Unfortunately, Trenggono is still reluctant to mention further what obstacles are being faced by Indonesia until the acquisition of fighter jets worth USD1.1 billion is still tough.

"You can't buy yet because there are some obstacles," he said.


On the other hand, Trenggono even mentioned that his party was considering other options. He said that he was opening up opportunities to replace procurement with Uncle Sam's 5th generation jet fighter, Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II .

"It is exploring to replace procurement to F-35 from the US," he said.

Earlier, Director of the Russian Federal Agency for Military-Technical Cooperation FSVTS), Dmitry Shugayev stressed that the plan for the procurement of Su-35 multi-role fighter aircraft by the Indonesian government was still "active".

Quoted from janes.com (Monday, 3/16/2020), Shugayev flatly denied the lively news in various media that Indonesia under pressure from US sanctions had canceled an agreement to buy 11 Russian 4.5 generation fighter jets made in Russia .

"There is no official cancellation (from Indonesia related) orders (Su-35). We have not received any letter regarding this issue and have not been informed about it, "said Shugayev, as quoted by the Russian news channel 24 , Monday (3/16/2020).

Based on Bloomberg , the rumors of the cancellation arose after an Indonesian official who did not want to be named said the US had confirmed that the Indonesian government could be sanctioned if it continued the contract to purchase Su-35 from Russia.

America does have laws that can impose sanctions on other countries, especially partner countries, if found to establish transactions of the main defense system (defense equipment) with US rivals.

The law is the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). The law applies to Russia and several other countries which are also considered by the US to be threats such as China.

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