"The plan to buy Sukhoi-35 is still in place. Nothing has affected it. It is still relevant to what National Defense Forces Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto had stated," Sutisna noted after a meeting of the Indonesian Air Force leadership 2018 at the Air Force Headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, on Friday.
Sutisna was responding to an allegation that the United States has pressed Indonesia not to buy Russian-made fighter jets when US Secretary of Defense James Norman Mattis visited Indonesia recently.
"I have not heard of it (the allegation). I learned it from the media. To be sure, the contract will be signed," he stressed.
The former chief of the Indonesian Air Force Operation Command I expressed the hope that the contract for the purchase of Sukhoi-35s will be signed in February 2018.
"I hope the contract will be signed in February 2018 at the latest. If the contract is signed, the first plane will be delivered next year," he pointed out.
Reported by Syaiful Hakim
(T.S012/B/KR-BSR/B/H-YH)
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
