Indonesian Ministry of Defense Signs Contract Order for Two A400M Aircraft

Indonesian Ministry of Defense has signed a contract for ordering two Airbus A400M which will be delivered to the Indonesian Air Force. The aircraft will be in multi-role tanker and transport configurations.

The contract, which was signed on the sidelines of the 2021 Dubai Airshow, will be in effect in 2022. The signed contract includes maintenance support and complete training packages. On the occasion, the Ministry of Defense also signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) for the acquisition of four additional A400Ms in the future. 

Airbus A400M Atlas (EC-400) of Airbus Military arrives at the 2019 Royal International Air Tattoo, RAF Fairford, England. (Photo: Adrian Pingstone/Wikimedia)

The Airbus A400M is a multi-role aircraft which is expected to improve the tactical air-to-air capabilities of the Indonesian Air Force. Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto stated that the aircraft will also play a key role in other key missions such as parachuting and heavy cargo transportation.

"In addition to its tactical and air-to-air capabilities, the A400M will become a national asset and play an important role in the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response missions," said Prabowo, quoted from a written statement by Ministry of Defense (18/11/2021).

Previously, the A400M aircraft was exhibited by Airbus several times at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base, Jakarta, namely in March 2017 and August 2018.

In 2018, Indonesia had expressed its interest on A400M as the aircraft is capable of operating on rough landing strips. Indonesian Air Force and state entity Indonesia Trading Company said that they considered to use the plane's cargo lifting capability to help balancing prices of goods across the archipelago.

Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto standing on the center back. (Photo: Defense Minister's documentation team)

The A400M aircraft belonging to the French Air Force had been used to send aid to Lombok when the area was hit by an earthquake in August 2018. The Malaysian Air Force also used the same aircraft to deliver aid for Palu's earthquake and tsunami victims in October 2018.

The aircraft has one recorded fatal accident. According to BBC, an A400M, Aircraft MSN23, crashed on 9 May 2015. The MSN23 was performing its first test flight but crashed shortly after it took off from San Pablo Airport in Seville, Spain, killing four Spanish Airbus crew and seriously injuring two others. The accident was attributed to a system failure.