Boeing [BA] said on Aug. 21 that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indonesia for the latter to buy up to 24 of the company’s F-15EX fighters.
“The Republic of Indonesia and Boeing shared their commitment to finalize the sale of 24 F-15EX aircraft to Indonesia, subject to U.S. government approval, during a visit of Indonesia’s Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto to the United States,” the company said.
The MoU signing by Indonesian Air Vice Marshal Yusuf Jauhari, the head of the Defense Facilities Agency for the Indonesia Ministry of Defense, and Mark Sears, vice president and program manager of Boeing fighters, took place on Aug. 21 at Boeing’s St. Louis plant after Indonesian officials toured the F-15EX production line.
The “state-of-the-art” F-15EX, which is to become the F-15IDN upon its accession into the Indonesian military, “will protect and secure our nation with its advanced capabilities,” Subianto said in the Aug. 21 Boeing statement.
In April, U.S. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, the nominee to become the new service chief of staff, told the readiness panel of the House Armed Services Committee that the Air Force needs to ramp up its numbers of F-15EXs and
Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-35As for possible use in Indo-Pacific Command (Defense Daily, Apr. 19).
The Air Force requested nearly $2.7 billion for 24 F-15EXs in the service’s fiscal 2024 request. The House and the Senate versions of the fiscal 2024 defense appropriations bills have advised removing more than $200 million from that request, including about $80 million for F-15EX depot activation, which Senate appropriators classified as “early to need” and which House appropriators said that, at the Air Force’s request, they moved to the “other production charges” section of the Air Force procurement account.