TEMPO.CO, Bandung - State aircraft company, PT Dirgantara Indonesia, will start producing jet fighters "Indonesian Fighter Xperiment (IFX)" in 2020, its President Director, Budi Santoso, said.
"We will begin producing them in 2020 and continue for the next 20 years," he said here on Thursday.
The aircraft will be produced to meet the Indonesian militarys need for two squadrons of jet fighters and will be sold abroad as well, Budi added.
He said the second phase of cooperation contracts between the Indonesian Defense Ministry and the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and between PT Dirgantara Indonesia and Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) was signed last January on the basis of starting the production of the planes prototype.
The prototype of the Korean Fighter Xperiment/Indonesian Fighter Xperiment will be produced in South Korea and Indonesia starting this year and until 2019, he said.
He said the prototype of the jet fighters will be produced in South Korea and the rest will be assembled in Indonesia.
The production of the planes will involve numerous Indonesian scientists and technicians for each unit, Budi said.
He added that 300 Indonesians will study and research the production of the KF-X/IF-X jet fighters.
ANTARA
