JAKARTA: Indonesia may start negotiations to buy four more units of Airbus’ A400M military aircraft, President Prabowo Subianto said on Monday, as the country continues to revamp its ageing military through a string of hardware deals.
The purchase of military equipment has picked up since Prabowo, a former special forces commander, became defence minister in 2019 and then president last year, with multiple deals struck for new fighter jets as well as submarines.
“We may negotiate so we can sign for four more units,” Prabowo told reporters after a ceremony to inspect the arrival of the first of two new A400s at an air force base in Jakarta. He did not provide further details on the timeline of the planned negotiations. The second plane in the deal, signed in 2021 when Prabowo was the minister of defence, is expected to arrive next year, Airbus said in a statement.