Indonesia has confirmed it signed an initial contract to buy the outgoing fleet of 12 French-made Dassault Mirage 2000-5EDA/DDA fighters from the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) as a short-term solution to filling the long-standing gap in the nation’s domestic air defense while it waits for deliver of its first Dassault Rafales.
The deal was revealed in a recent news release from the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU), which stated that a $795m contract between Indonesia and Qatar was signed to buy the second-hand Mirages, along with 14 Snecma M53-P2 afterburning turbofan engines, air/ground crew training, three years of support services and related ground support equipment. Qatar received 12 Mirage 2000-5s – comprising nine single-seat 2000-5EDAs and three dual-seat 2000-5DDAs – from France in 1997 in a deal said to be worth around $280 million
