JAKARTA: The Indonesian military is expected to welcome two Sukhoi Su-35 "Flanker-E" to its combat aircraft fleet in October, after signing a contract to buy the fighter jets from Russia.
A spokesman for the Defense Ministry, Brig. Gen. Totok Sugiharto confirmed to Arab News that the contract for 11 multirole combat aircrafts was signed in Jakarta on Feb. 14.
Rear Adm. Agus Setiadji, head of defense facilities agency at the ministry, signed on behalf of the Indonesian government with a representative from Russia’s state-owned defense product broker, Rosoboronexport.
The first two fighter jets are expected to arrive in early October, said Totok, in time to take part in the TNI parade to celebrate armed forces day on Oct. 5. TNI is the Indonesian acronym for the Indonesian Armed Forces.
“The Sukhoi jets would replace the existing F5-E Tiger jet fighters fleet,” he added.
The contract, worth $1.140 billion, was finalized following negotiations that started in 2017. It includes the signing of a bilateral deal in Moscow in August to barter coffee, tea, palm oil, cacao, spices and the commodities’ derivatives, processed fish and textiles as well as Indonesia’s defense products with the Sukhoi fleet. Indonesian state trading company PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia and Russian state conglomerate Rostec will be the agencies implementing the barter trade.
The part-barter deal will allow Indonesia to pay 50 percent of the Sukhoi jet fighter contract by exporting its commodities valued at $570 million, Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said in August at a joint press conference with Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu.
“With this barter deal, Indonesia can export more commodities that we have exported before, as well as the ones that we didn’t get to export previously,” Enggartiasto said.
Under Indonesia’s defense industry law, the procurement contract for defense equipment from foreign producer is subject to at least 35 percent offset requirements. Russia has said that it will provide 35 percent offset from the contract value by providing a training for maintenance and repair of the Sukhoi fleet.
In October, then-military chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo said in accordance to request from the air force, that the Sukhoi jets will be equipped with air-to-air missile, air-to-ground missile, bombs, ground support equipment, simulator, spare parts and spare engines.
The Indonesian Air Force already has a full squadron of Sukhoi Su-27 SKM and Su-30 Mk2 jets.
Since the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is President Joko Widodo’s predecessor, Indonesia has been significantly increasing its defense budget to modernize its aging Armed Forces fleet and equipment and rejuvenate its defense industry.
Its spending on military equipment aims to meet the minimum essential force target by 2024 or the bare minimum of primary defense equipment to safeguard the country’s vast archipelago.
Indonesian military expects Sukhoi jets to arrive for its anniversary after inking the deal
Indonesian military expects Sukhoi jets to arrive for its anniversary after inking the deal
UK police release ex-envoy Peter Mandelson on bail in Epstein case
LONDON: London police released former ambassador Peter Mandelson on bail in the early hours of Tuesday, in a probe into his ties to disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein, only days after ex-prince Andrew was arrested.
Mandelson, a pivotal figure in British politics and the UK’s former envoy to Washington, was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office around 1700 GMT Monday following allegations arising from the latest set of documents linked to Epstein.
“A 72-year-old man arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office has been released on bail pending further investigation,” the Metropolitan police said in a statement around nine hours after he was taken in to an unnamed London police station.
Images on UK television earlier appeared to show Mandelson, 72, being driven away from his north London home accompanied by a man and a woman, after police raided his properties earlier this month.
The arrest came days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, King Charles III’s younger brother, was detained on Thursday and released under investigation in a separate misconduct in public office investigation also related to the latest Epstein documents.
Mandelson is being probed over allegations that he sent sensitive documents to the late US sex offender when he was a government minister, including during the 2008 financial crash.
Police have not specified which documents are part of the probe.
The veteran ex-politician was sacked by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as envoy to Washington in September when an earlier release of documents linked to Epstein showed the extent of their friendship.
But Mandelson’s appointment has unleashed a political storm with two of Starmer’s top aides resigning over the row.
Starmer apologized to Epstein’s victims for appointing Mandelson, and accused the ex-envoy of lying about the extent of his ties to the financier during the vetting process for his Washington posting.
Pressure rising
Law firm Mishcon de Reya, representing Mandelson, said earlier this month that he “regrets, and will regret until his dying day, that he believed Epstein’s lies about his criminality.”
“Lord Mandelson did not discover the truth about Epstein until after his death in 2019,” said the statement.
“He is profoundly sorry that powerless and vulnerable women and girls were not given the protection they deserved.”
The government is to release tens of thousands of emails, messages and documents on Mandelson’s vetting procedure, which could ramp up the pressure on the prime minister and other senior ministers.
Government minister Darren Jones on Monday said the first set of documents relating to Mandelson’s appointment will be published in early March.
Starmer fought off calls to resign earlier this month after he admitted he knew about Mandelson’s ongoing friendship with Epstein — which seemed to continue after the financier was convicted of child prostitution in 2008.
Mandelson, also a former European Union trade commissioner, stood down from parliament’s unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords, earlier this month.
The advisory firm he co-founded, Global Counsel, also approached bankruptcy last week as it stopped trading and appointed administrations in a bid to salvage some assets.
Several major clients, including Barclays, Tesco and English football’s Premier League, have cut ties with the firm in recent weeks, according to press reports.
Officers from the Met’s specialist crime team were deployed earlier this month to search two of his addresses, one in the western English county of Wiltshire and the other in London, according to the police.
