Indonesia has agreed to buy 48 TAI KAAN fighter jets developed by Turkey. The purchase was announced by President Erdogan via his X account yesterday. The TAI KAAN project began as the TAI TF-X as a fully domestically built fifth-generation fighter aircraft after Turkey was blocked from purchasing the Lockheed Martin F-35.
The TAI KAAN purchase is another sign that the cooperation between Indonesia and South Korea to develop the KAI KF-21 Boromae fighter program is becoming increasingly unclear. Although five prototype KF-21 aircraft have been produced, the fifth prototype that was supposed to be delivered to Indonesia is still in South Korea. The Indonesian flag has not been placed on the prototype aircraft that was tested since 2023.
The issue of Indonesia failing to pay part of the 20% of the KF-21 development cost has been dragging on for several years. This was not helped by the scandal of an Indonesian engineer being arrested after trying to smuggle out KF-21 secrets using a USB drive last year.
TAI KAAN has the advantage of being a 5th gen fighter compared to KF-21 which is a 4.5th gen fighter. KAAN has the ability to operate with drones. Earlier this year, Baykar from Turkiye agreed to build a drone assembly factory in Indonesia. Their drones have proven effective in the Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine conflicts. Baykar is developing escort drones that can operate with TAI KAAN.
South Korea and Turkiye have both invited Malaysia to join the TAI KAAN and KF-21 programs because the country needs replacement aircraft under the 5G Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) program which has been delayed several times. The MRCA aircraft will replace the aging MIG-29, FA-18 and F-5.