Article Posted on : - Aug 27, 2012

AGM-65 Maverick Missile. A Raytheon photo.

JAKARTA (BNS): Indonesia plans to buy air-to-surface guided missiles from United States to equip its fleet of F-16 fighter jets, media reports said.

Indonesia has requested 18 AGM-65K2 Maverick All-Up-Round missiles, 36 "captive air training missiles" and three maintenance training missiles, plus spares, test equipment and personnel training, worth $25 million, according to a Reuter's report.

The AGM-65 Maverick, built by Raytheon, is designed to attack a wide range of tactical targets, including armour, air defences, ships, ground transportation and fuel storage facilities.

The announcement to buy the missiles comes after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the country's defence budget would increase to 77.7 trillion rupiah (about $8.2 billion) in 2013, from 61.5 trillion rupiah in 2012.

The US administration approved the request on last week, according to reports.

Indonesia has 10 F-16s. The United States announced that it was giving Jakarta another two dozen secondhand F-16C/D fighter planes, after a meeting between US President Barack Obama and President Yudhoyono, in November last year, in a move to strengthen their bilateral ties.

The F-16s are decommissioned and no longer part of the US Air Force inventory. The number of missiles being sought by Indonesia would support both the existing fleet and the 24 planes being provided as US surplus, reports said.