Information supplied and copyrighted
by Joe Baugher
General Dynamics F-16
Fighting Falcon for Indonesia
Last revised March 19,
2000
In August of 1986, Indonesia signed a
letter of agreement for 12 F-16A/B Block 15 OCU (Operational Capability Upgrade) aircraft.
They were intended to replace some of the aging MiG-21 fighters and other Soviet types
that were in service in Indonesia.
The first F-16 was delivered to the
Tentara Nasional Indonesia-Angatan Udara (Indonesian National Army-Air Force) on December
11, 1989. Deliveries were completed in 1990. These aircraft equipped Skwadron Udara 3,
based at Ishwahyudi Air Base on the island of Java. This unit had previously operated the
OV-10F Bronco, the Broncos being used to reactivate SkU.1.
In November of 1995, Indonesia expressed
a need for 64 more F-16s, enough to equip four fighter squadrons. They expressed an
interest in the 28 embargoed Pakistani F-16s held in storage at AMARC. A contract was
signed in 1996 for nine Block 20 F-16s. However, negotiations between the USA and
Indonesia for the purchase of these planes were postponed in June of 1997 because of
Congressional objections to Indonesia's human rights record following riots in June of
1996.
Serials of TNI-AU F-16s:
87-0713/0720 General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon
to Indonesia as TS1605/TS1612
87-0721/0724 General Dynamics F-16B Fighting Falcon
to Indonesia as TS1601/TS1604
Sources:
- Combat Aircraft F-16, Doug Richardson,
Crescent, 1992.
- General Dynamics Aircraft and their
Predecessors, John Wegg, Naval Institute Press, 1990.
- The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and
Peter Bowers, Orion, 1987.
- United States Military Aircraft Since
1909, Gordon Swanborough and Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.
- F-16 Fighting Falcon--A Major Review of
the West's Universal Warplane, Robert F. Dorr, World Airpower Journal, Spring 1991.
- The World's Great Interceptor Aircraft,
Gallery, 1989.
- Modern Military Aircraft--F-16 Viper, Lou
Drendel, Squadron/Signal Publications, 1992.
- Lockheed F-16 Variants, Part 1, World
Airpower Journal, Volume 21, Summer 1995.
- Military Aviation Review, World AirPower
Journal, Volume 28, 1997.
- Air Power Analysis Update--Indonesia,
World AirPower Journal, Volume 28, 1997.
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