Indonesia Signs for 12 Leonardo M-346F Block 20 Jets in Near-€1 Billion Deal

Jakarta firmed a February letter of intent at the Farnborough airshow on 21 July, becoming the M-346's 23rd operator and the first in Asia to take the radar-equipped Block 20 standard.

Indonesia has signed a contract for 12 Leonardo M-346F light combat aircraft in a deal worth close to €1 billion ($1.14 billion), the Italian manufacturer announced on 21 July 2026 at the Farnborough International Airshow. The agreement firms a letter of intent signed in February and makes Jakarta the type's 23rd operator.

The aircraft will be delivered in the Block 20 standard, the most recent configuration of the M-346F, which adds an active electronically scanned array radar, a Link 16 data link, electronic countermeasures, new weapon options and revised cockpit displays. Indonesia will be the first Block 20 customer in Asia. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2030.

The contract was signed alongside PT ESystem Solutions Indonesia and covers the localisation of support, maintenance, overhaul and training services in-country — the offset and industrial-participation structure that has become standard for Indonesian defence procurement. Leonardo also used the show to advance discussions with Jakarta on AW149 naval helicopters, according to reporting from The Aviationist.

The M-346 is a twin-engine advanced jet trainer derived from the Yakovlev Yak-130 programme, which entered service in 2015 and is flown in its training configuration by Italy, Israel, Poland, Singapore, Greece, Qatar and Turkmenistan. GlobalMilitary.net's inventory records 98 M-346 trainers in service worldwide plus four M-346FA light attack aircraft in Turkmenistan, with 36 more M-346FAs on order for Austria and Nigeria. The F model trades some training-fleet economy for a genuine light combat capability, a category that has found buyers among air forces looking for affordable airframes to absorb tasks their fast jets are too expensive to fly.

For Indonesia the purchase fills a gap between trainers and front-line fighters. The Indonesian Air Force currently flies 28 BAE Hawk 109/209s and 16 KAI T-50i Golden Eagles in the lead-in fighter trainer and light attack roles, several of which are approaching the end of their service lives. Its combat fleet consists of 33 F-16A/B/C/Ds and 16 Su-27/30s, with a substantial re-equipment programme under way: 39 Rafales and 50 KF-21 Boramae are on order. Across all types Indonesia operates 467 aircraft with 147 more on order, and sits 30th in the military strength ranking for 2026.

The order is one of the larger defence agreements to emerge from Farnborough, where procurement announcements this year skewed towards munitions and light platforms rather than front-line fighters. With deliveries four years out, the M-346Fs will arrive alongside the first Rafales and ahead of the KF-21, giving Indonesia a training pipeline sized for a fleet it has not yet received.