Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of Air Staff, Indian Air Force, visited Indonesia from November 23 to 26 on an invitation from Air Chief Marshal Ida Bagus Putu Dunia, Chief of Staff, Indonesian Air Force. This was the first visit by an Indian Air Chief to Indonesia in over a decade and happened against the backdrop of the summit meeting between President Joko Widodo and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the time of the East Asia Summit in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, during which enhancement of defence cooperation was one of the key points of discussion.

During this visit, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha had a meeting with his counterpart Air Chief Marshal Putu Dunia and interacted with the Indonesian Air Force. The Indonesian Air Force expressed their keen interest to increase the scope of cooperation with the Indian Air Force through greater interaction in the future. Indian Air Chief was accompanied by the Indian Ambassador Gurjit Singh for his meeting with General Ryamizard Ryacudu (Retd), the Minister of Defence, RI. The Indonesian Minister of Defence was appreciative of the ongoing initiatives in the field of defence cooperation and underlined the immense scope and potential to further the engagement between the two armed forces in the future.

Air Chief Marshal Raha also visited PT Dirgantara at Bandung and saw the production and maintenance facilities. He complimented PTDI for their efforts at indigenisation and expressed India’s commitment to support the Indonesian defence Industry.