Jakarta – Indonesia has finally decided to purchase 12 Sukhoi 30K (SU-30K) jet fighters and eight multi-purpose MI-17-1V helicopters from Russia to boost the equipment of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI).

The decision was taken during a meeting led by State Minister for National Development Planning/Chairman of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) Mr Ginandjar Kartasasmita here Tuesday.

The Ministry of Defense and Security and the ABRI will negotiate with Russia on the price, terms of payment, transfer of technology, a counter-purchase scheme, date of delivery, spare parts and after-sales service.

Ginandjar however said no agreement on the final price of the warplanes has been reached as yet. "Russia for the time being has offered the Sukhoi SU-30 K at US$ 34 million (Rp 85 billion) per unit. But the price is negotiable," he said.

The Air Force has previously examined the Russian MiG-29 Fulcrum, the Sukhoi SU-27, the Sukhoi SU-30, as well as the French Mirage-2000 and the Swedish JAS-39-Grippen after plans to buy F- 16 jet fighters from the United States were cancelled.

Indonesia in May cancelled its plan to purchase nine F-16 fighters from the US citing "wholly unjustified criticism" in the US Congress against Indonesia.

After Indonesia cancelled the plan, it sent teams to Russia, France and Sweden to look for other fighter planes.

A joint team which studied the performance of the jet fighters has drawn up a set of criteria to decide on what kind of warplanes Indonesia will purchase. The team decided that the new jet fighter should match the performance of the F-16 (*).

The jet fighters should have the widest range of functions, the most modern performance and other qualifications, Ginandjar said.