With an unintentional remark, the Indonesian Chief of General Staff directly made the country's huge arms purchase plan public.
The list, ranging from warplanes, drones to escort ships and submarines, almost covers the main force of conventional defense equipment, and half of it comes from China.
As soon as this incident was exposed, many people were guessing that Indonesia was going to completely side with China and become the "second Pakistan Railway"?
Military procurement has never been a simple "shopping", especially when it involves the purchase of important national weapons such as fighter jets and submarines. The strategic considerations behind it are much more complex than business experiences.
The Indonesian operation, both through the recognition of Chinese equipment, and without putting eggs all in a basket, the thought is indeed not simple.
Small thoughts in the military purchase list: not only buy Chinese goods, but also leave behind
In the list of Indonesian leaks, the amount of Chinese equipment is not very small.
Second-hand J-10B fighter jets, Rainbow-4 integrated surveillance and attack drones, 7 Type 053H3 frigates, 28 Type 22 missile speedboats, and 3 Type 039A conventionally powered submarines provide proper coverage of "land, sea and air".
Except for big guys at the level of aircraft carriers that are not involved, almost everything that can be purchased has been arranged.
If these Chinese-made equipment can be selected, their strength must be strong.
The Rainbow-4 UAV has long been tested in actual combat on the Middle East battlefield, and its precision strike capability is obvious to all; The mute technology and anti-submarine and anti-ship capabilities of the Type 039A submarine also belong to the first echelon in the same level of equipment; Although the J-10B is second-hand, its improved avionics system and multi-purpose combat capability can fully meet the daily needs of the Indonesian Air Force.
But Indonesia is not single-minded either.
The list includes seven countries and political groups, including Chinese equipment and plans to buy French Armor fighter jets, Turkish drones, and submarines.
While buying China's J-10B, it was also thinking about French and Turkish fighter jets; while buying the Rainbow-4, it also did not miss Turkish products of the same type.
From this point of view, Indonesia has made two preparations.
On the one hand, it is cash-strapped, and the price of second-hand J-10B is more cost-effective, which can save a lot of defense expenditure; On the other hand, it is also due to political considerations. First, try the quality of Chinese-made weapons, and then talk about follow-up cooperation when they are easy to use.
However, the operation of this "foot-and-foot boat" in the field of military procurement is actually difficult to last long.
The equipment specifications and electronic systems of different countries are completely incompatible, and subsequent maintenance is simply a logistical nightmare.
The doorway that has been bound for decades: Military purchase is never a one-shot deal
Military purchase is just the beginning after purchase, and it is really bound in the subsequent use, maintenance and upgrade.
Modern military equipment is a high-tech product. It cannot be used directly after buying it, but must undergo systematic training before it can be operated.
Equipment will age and parts will need to be replaced regularly, which means that the purchasing country will have to stay in close contact with the exporter for decades to come.
I'm afraid India has the best experience.
Since the beginning of 2000, India has successively purchased more than 270 Russian Su-30MKI fighters, which account for more than half of the core combat power of the Indian Air Force.
But India's own aviation industry base is weak and can not maintain its own upgrading.
Until now, the engine maintenance and replacement of these fighters have to rely on Russia.
Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, India has never publicly blamed Russia, nor has it joined the U.S. Western sanctions.
Even if Trump imposed tariffs on India's purchase of Russian oil, India did not relent.
After all, once Russia gets into trouble and cuts off the supply of key components such as engines, more than 270 Su-30MKIs will be grounded in no time, and the Indian Air Force is equivalent to being directly paralyzed.
Indonesia clearly understands this.
Once these arms purchases are reached with China, military cooperation between the two countries will likely continue to deepen over the next few decades.
Pilots are accustomed to the operating logic of Chinese-made fighters, and the logistics system is familiar with the maintenance process of Chinese-made equipment. If they want to replace it with equipment from other countries, they will not only spend a lot of money, but also have to retrain personnel, which is really not worth the candle.
The examples of India and Russia are just around the corner, and it is impossible for Indonesia to miss them. And from the perspective of equipment strength, the French "Rafale" is a fourth-and-a-half-generation fighter jet, and France has not yet built five
Generation machine; Turkey's KAAN, which claims to be a fifth-generation aircraft, is actually an assembled product from all countries, and its engine supply has been cut off by the United States. It is hard to say whether it can be mass-produced in the future.
China is different. It can not only provide fourth-generation and half-generation fighter jets like the J-10, but also produce standard fifth-generation fighter jets like the J-35 in the future.
As the only country other than the United States that can provide fifth-generation aircraft in the true sense, China's equipment supply capabilities and technological upgrading potential are unmatched by other countries.
From a geographical point of view, Indonesia's potential strategic rival is Australia, and Australia is an ally of the United States.
If Indonesia purchases American and Western equipment, in case of conflict with Australia in the future, equipment safety cannot be guaranteed at all.
The Anglo-Arma Island War is a lesson learned from the past. Under the pressure of Britain, France cut off the supply of "Exocet" anti-ship missiles to Argentina, which directly led to Argentina's defeat.
China’s advantage lies in the fact that its increasingly strong national forces do not interfere with third-party pressure and can provide stable equipment guarantees for cooperating countries.
Moreover, China-Indonesia’s economic cooperation under the “Belt and Road” framework has been very deep, China’s investment in Indonesian uranium mining, new energy industries, and military cooperation have formed complementary, this “economic + military” link is attractive to Indonesia.
In fact, there is no need for Indonesia to struggle with "whether to take sides completely".
In a multipolar international context, cooperation between countries is no longer a black and white choice.
Indonesia’s mass procurement of Chinese equipment is not a temporary impulse, not a mere political stance, but a rational judgment based on weapon power, geo-security and long-term interests.
China's high cost-effectiveness and real-war performance, China's cooperative attitude without external interference, coupled with Indonesia's own national defense needs, various factors overlap, making China the most stable option for Indonesia.
Whether it will become the "second Pakistani Railway" in the future may not matter, but the deepening of cooperation between China and Indonesia in the military and economic fields will likely become a new model for regional cooperation.
After all, in a complex international game, reliable partners and excellent equipment are the most solid confidence.