Indonesia's Efforts to Maintain ASEAN's National and Regional Economic Stability through Air Defence Modernisation

Abstract

At the beginning of President Prabowo Subianto's leadership, Indonesia carried out political manoeuvres by signing a large contract for the purchase of Rafale and KAAN jets. This aligns with the outbreak of conflicts in regions like the Middle East and Eastern Europe, such as Israel and Hamas, India and Pakistan, Iran and Israel, Russia and Ukraine. Additio nally, there is a trade war conflict between America and China, which has the potential to escalate into open war. Southeast Asia has also seen the potential for an open conflict. In response to this dynamic, Indonesia is modernising its military to protect its sovereignty—not for expansion or offence—though this step has caused controversy, particularly regarding the stability of the national economy due to the high cost of the contracts signed and the regional stability of Southeast Asia, as it could trigger an arms race within ASEAN. This research urgently examines how Indonesia's actions to maintain national economic stability through large jet purchase contracts and how it seeks to uphold ASEAN regional stability amidst military modernisation, using a descriptive qualitative method based on the Theory of Defence Realism.