(NSI News Source Info) February 11, 2009: Indonesia's recent purchase of several older-design Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker combat aircraft from Russia highlights a cruci
al lesson of weapons development and international arms sales -- technical superiority is relative, not absolute. You don't need state-of-the-art weapons if your potential enemies are only equipped with older ones. Just making sure you have a sufficient quantitative and qualitative edge on them will do just as well.
Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous nation after China, India and the United States. It is a vast archipelago of 17,500 islands, 6,000 of them inhabited. It faces no serious military threats from any of its immediate neighbors. It therefore does not need a modern, state-of-the-art air force that would be more than a match for anything the United States, Russia or China could throw against it.
Indonesia's prime concern is to maintain conventional military superiority over possible internal secession movements, extreme Islamist guerrillas or other home-grown threats. To deal with these issues, a modern air force is essential. But it doesn't have to be a large or state-of-the-art one. The Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker B, which first entered operational service with the Soviet air force a quarter-century ago, is still good enough to do the job.
al lesson of weapons development and international arms sales -- technical superiority is relative, not absolute. You don't need state-of-the-art weapons if your potential enemies are only equipped with older ones. Just making sure you have a sufficient quantitative and qualitative edge on them will do just as well.
Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous nation after China, India and the United States. It is a vast archipelago of 17,500 islands, 6,000 of them inhabited. It faces no serious military threats from any of its immediate neighbors. It therefore does not need a modern, state-of-the-art air force that would be more than a match for anything the United States, Russia or China could throw against it.
Indonesia's prime concern is to maintain conventional military superiority over possible internal secession movements, extreme Islamist guerrillas or other home-grown threats. To deal with these issues, a modern air force is essential. But it doesn't have to be a large or state-of-the-art one. The Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker B, which first entered operational service with the Soviet air force a quarter-century ago, is still good enough to do the job.
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