Indonesia’s Rafale Fighter jet program accelerates with the first test flight in France
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Indonesia’s first Rafale fighter jet for the Air Force completed a test flight in France this month. The milestone signals Jakarta’s $8 billion procurement is moving from contracts to operational capability.
Pictures published on social medias this week show Indonesia’s first Rafale has flown in France. Photos show a twin seat aircraft in Indonesia national colors lifting off from Dassault’s Bordeaux Mérignac site in mid September, a moment that signals the program has moved from contracts and renderings to an airframe with fuel in the tanks. Rafale is a multirole combat aircraft produced by the French company Dassault with twin M88 turbofans, an active electronically scanned array radar, and the SPECTRA electronic warfare suite. It carries a broad mix of weapons, from Meteor and MICA air to air missiles to AASM precision guided bombs and maritime strike options. Indonesia’s package totals 42 aircraft, enough to reshape the Air Force’s frontline fast jet fleet once deliveries settle into a rhythm.
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The Rafale is a twin-engine multirole fighter equipped with an AESA radar, SPECTRA electronic warfare suite, and a wide weapons mix including Meteor and MICA air-to-air missiles, AASM precision bombs, and anti-ship options, designed for air defense, strike, and maritime missions with strong connectivity and survivability (Picture source: @paulvlg.off on Instagram).
The photographed Rafale jet is a two seater built to the latest F4 standard. F4 configuration matters because it prioritizes connectivity, data fusion, and survivability. The RBE2 AESA radar, the OSF infrared search and track, and the aircraft’s modular processing core are designed to combine tracks rather than present a cluttered list of contacts. The pilot and the back seater see a cleaner picture and can act more quickly. SPECTRA ties together radar warning, electronic support, and countermeasures so the crew can identify a threat, avoid it, or suppress it without a long cockpit choreography. The goal is simple enough even if the tech is not: reduce workload while widening the set of missions a pair of jets can handle in one sortie.
On the hardware side, Rafale’s compact Safran M88 engines help with hot and humid operations and cut fuel burn, a point that matters in a country spread across thousands of kilometers of sea. Eleven hardpoints and flexible fuel options give planners room to mix beyond visual range and within visual range missiles with guided bombs, while still hanging a targeting pod and external tanks. It is the sort of loadout that lets a squadron keep aircraft on quick reaction alert with Meteor and MICA, then turn the same jets around for a surface strike tasking later in the week without reconfiguring half the fleet. The two seat cockpit gives Indonesia a useful training platform and, in operations, a second crew member to manage sensors and the wider air picture on long maritime patrols.
Jakarta’s first airframes are being produced under a procurement finalized at 42 aircraft after staged contracting. The Air Force has already sent an initial cadre of pilots and technicians to France for type conversion and maintenance training. Early deliveries are expected to begin in 2026. The aircraft seen with 12th Air Squadron markings lines up with the working plan for unit conversions around Roesmin Nurjadin Air Base. As Rafale beds in, it will gradually take on roles now shared among F-16s, Su-27 and Su-30 Flankers, and Hawk 200s. The payoff for Indonesia is fewer types, better availability, and a maintenance system that is not fighting a war of attrition against spare parts and small fleets.
In day-to-day operations, the Rafale gives Indonesia real reach over water, into weather, and across a contested electromagnetic spectrum. With Meteor for long range shots and MICA for the merge, a pair of Rafales can build a layered defensive posture over busy air corridors and the approaches to the Malacca Strait. The same sensors and weapons translate cleanly to maritime interdiction. The AESA can work air and surface modes, the targeting pod helps with identification, and AASM adds a precise option against fixed or relocatable targets ashore or in littoral zones. SPECTRA underwrites the whole thing by cutting risk from modern surface to air threats, which are no longer a distant problem given the proliferation of networked radars and mobile launchers around the region.
The training syllabus runs from classroom avionics and armament to simulators to live flying, followed by on the job workups. Technicians will step through airframe, engine, and mission system tracks and then carry that knowledge home to set up tooling and maintenance routines. If Indonesia keeps the training pipeline and spares flow aligned with the delivery schedule, the first squadrons can start rotating Rafales through alert duties and longer patrol circuits by the end of the first year in country. If not, aircraft risk sitting under covers.
Indonesia sits on the edge of the South China Sea and oversees sea lanes that carry a substantial share of global trade. Air sovereignty missions bump into foreign military traffic and an expanding set of gray zone tactics. A modern, networked multirole fighter gives Jakarta more credible options when it needs to signal presence around the Natuna area or escort a maritime patrol aircraft through a congested patch of sky. The purchase also fits a broader national policy of diversifying suppliers and deepening industrial ties beyond a single bloc. France is a useful partner for that, bringing not only the fighter but also submarine cooperation and long-range radar projects to the table. Regional air forces are modernizing quickly and Indonesia is making sure its air force is not left behind.
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{loadposition sidebarpub}
Indonesia’s first Rafale fighter jet for the Air Force completed a test flight in France this month. The milestone signals Jakarta’s $8 billion procurement is moving from contracts to operational capability.
Pictures published on social medias this week show Indonesia’s first Rafale has flown in France. Photos show a twin seat aircraft in Indonesia national colors lifting off from Dassault’s Bordeaux Mérignac site in mid September, a moment that signals the program has moved from contracts and renderings to an airframe with fuel in the tanks. Rafale is a multirole combat aircraft produced by the French company Dassault with twin M88 turbofans, an active electronically scanned array radar, and the SPECTRA electronic warfare suite. It carries a broad mix of weapons, from Meteor and MICA air to air missiles to AASM precision guided bombs and maritime strike options. Indonesia’s package totals 42 aircraft, enough to reshape the Air Force’s frontline fast jet fleet once deliveries settle into a rhythm.
The Rafale is a twin-engine multirole fighter equipped with an AESA radar, SPECTRA electronic warfare suite, and a wide weapons mix including Meteor and MICA air-to-air missiles, AASM precision bombs, and anti-ship options, designed for air defense, strike, and maritime missions with strong connectivity and survivability (Picture source: @paulvlg.off on Instagram).
The photographed Rafale jet is a two seater built to the latest F4 standard. F4 configuration matters because it prioritizes connectivity, data fusion, and survivability. The RBE2 AESA radar, the OSF infrared search and track, and the aircraft’s modular processing core are designed to combine tracks rather than present a cluttered list of contacts. The pilot and the back seater see a cleaner picture and can act more quickly. SPECTRA ties together radar warning, electronic support, and countermeasures so the crew can identify a threat, avoid it, or suppress it without a long cockpit choreography. The goal is simple enough even if the tech is not: reduce workload while widening the set of missions a pair of jets can handle in one sortie.
On the hardware side, Rafale’s compact Safran M88 engines help with hot and humid operations and cut fuel burn, a point that matters in a country spread across thousands of kilometers of sea. Eleven hardpoints and flexible fuel options give planners room to mix beyond visual range and within visual range missiles with guided bombs, while still hanging a targeting pod and external tanks. It is the sort of loadout that lets a squadron keep aircraft on quick reaction alert with Meteor and MICA, then turn the same jets around for a surface strike tasking later in the week without reconfiguring half the fleet. The two seat cockpit gives Indonesia a useful training platform and, in operations, a second crew member to manage sensors and the wider air picture on long maritime patrols.
Jakarta’s first airframes are being produced under a procurement finalized at 42 aircraft after staged contracting. The Air Force has already sent an initial cadre of pilots and technicians to France for type conversion and maintenance training. Early deliveries are expected to begin in 2026. The aircraft seen with 12th Air Squadron markings lines up with the working plan for unit conversions around Roesmin Nurjadin Air Base. As Rafale beds in, it will gradually take on roles now shared among F-16s, Su-27 and Su-30 Flankers, and Hawk 200s. The payoff for Indonesia is fewer types, better availability, and a maintenance system that is not fighting a war of attrition against spare parts and small fleets.
In day-to-day operations, the Rafale gives Indonesia real reach over water, into weather, and across a contested electromagnetic spectrum. With Meteor for long range shots and MICA for the merge, a pair of Rafales can build a layered defensive posture over busy air corridors and the approaches to the Malacca Strait. The same sensors and weapons translate cleanly to maritime interdiction. The AESA can work air and surface modes, the targeting pod helps with identification, and AASM adds a precise option against fixed or relocatable targets ashore or in littoral zones. SPECTRA underwrites the whole thing by cutting risk from modern surface to air threats, which are no longer a distant problem given the proliferation of networked radars and mobile launchers around the region.
The training syllabus runs from classroom avionics and armament to simulators to live flying, followed by on the job workups. Technicians will step through airframe, engine, and mission system tracks and then carry that knowledge home to set up tooling and maintenance routines. If Indonesia keeps the training pipeline and spares flow aligned with the delivery schedule, the first squadrons can start rotating Rafales through alert duties and longer patrol circuits by the end of the first year in country. If not, aircraft risk sitting under covers.
Indonesia sits on the edge of the South China Sea and oversees sea lanes that carry a substantial share of global trade. Air sovereignty missions bump into foreign military traffic and an expanding set of gray zone tactics. A modern, networked multirole fighter gives Jakarta more credible options when it needs to signal presence around the Natuna area or escort a maritime patrol aircraft through a congested patch of sky. The purchase also fits a broader national policy of diversifying suppliers and deepening industrial ties beyond a single bloc. France is a useful partner for that, bringing not only the fighter but also submarine cooperation and long-range radar projects to the table. Regional air forces are modernizing quickly and Indonesia is making sure its air force is not left behind.
