Kompas Series: Indonesia Tops Southeast Asian Arms Imports but Lags on Key Technology

A Kompas.id series published on 2 November 2026 reports that Indonesia was the largest recipient of major arms in Southeast Asia between 2021 and 2025, taking about 1.5 percent of global imports. Despite the volume, key components such as engines, sensors, radar and control systems are still imported, and officials interviewed for the series argue self-reliance must start from component suppliers rather than final assembly. Offset obligations are a legal requirement under Law 16/2012.

The series quotes the KKIP defense industry committee and researcher Lab45, whose analyst Jaleswari Pramodhawardani states that offsets cannot be collected without transparency: without published contract values, companies, local-content targets and transferred technology, legislators and the public cannot verify whether offset commitments are honored. The series cites the Rafale purchase, with its engineering and LEN data-link package, and the Scorpene submarines built at PAL as reference cases.