DEFEND ID AND THE INDONESIAN AIR FORCE BUILD SELF-RELIANCE THROUGH AN INTER-COMPANY COLLABORATION MODEL: TRANSFORMING HIERARCHICAL ASYMMETRY INTO COLLECTIVE CAPABILITY

Abstract

Defense equipment self-reliance requires more than the capabilities of individual state-owned manufacturers. Within DEFEND ID, the Indonesian defense-industry holding, companies occupy unequal positions and possess different technological knowledge, resources, production infrastructures, and organizational authority. This study examines existing inter-company collaboration, identifies its enabling and constraining conditions, and reconstructs a hierarchical-asymmetry collaboration model to support Indonesian Air Force equipment self-reliance. The study adopts a qualitative phenomenological design using purposively selected stakeholders representing holding companies, the Air Force, the Ministry of Defence, national research institutions, and academia. Data from in-depth interviews, observation, and documents were interpreted through coding, data condensation, displays, and cross-source triangulation. Findings indicate that collaboration has progressed beyond isolated projects toward capability integration but remains constrained by uneven capacities, unclear roles, fragmented technology and production links, and insufficient alignment between user demand and industrial readiness. The reconstructed model treats asymmetry not as a deviation to eliminate but as a structural condition to orchestrate through differentiated responsibilities, facilitative leadership, knowledge exchange, resource pooling, a lead-integrator mechanism, tiered decisions, and multi-actor alignment. Its contribution is an empirically grounded mechanism for converting heterogeneous firm capacities into complementary collective capability; the study does not demonstrate that full defense equipment independence has already been achieved.