History

The Indonesian Air Force has fielded a series of short-lived aerobatic teams ever since the 1950s, but the Jupiter Aerobatic Team could be said to trace its roots to 1985, when ateam of Hawk Mk.53s was established by Skadron Udara (Air Squadron) 15 under the name Spirit 85. Initially flying as a four-ship, Spirit 85 was later renamed the Hawk Team, flying briefly as a six-ship, but ceasing operations by the end of the year.

A new four-ship Hawk aerobatic team was informally resurrected by Skadron Udara 15 in 1995, but did not fly in public for some years. With the guidance of current and former Red Arrows pilots, the team was formalised in 1997 and given the name of Jupiter Aerobatic Team. Their jets were in standard operational paint schemes, but were fitted with centreline smoke systems used to create red, white and blue smoke trails.

In 2001, the Jupiter Aerobatic Team was merged with another Indonesian Air Force aerobatic team, Elang Biru from Skadron Udara 3. Initially named Blue Falcon, but later officially taking on the Bahasa translation as their official name, Elang Biru had been formed as the primary national team in 1995, and had flown six specially-painted F-16A Fighting Falcons. Training had been provided by members of the US Air Force Thunderbirds. After several successful seasons during which they were among the best-known and most-respected aerobatic teams in Asia, Elang Biru was put on hiatus in 2000 as a cost-saving measure.

The new combined team comprised elements of both Elang Biru and the Jupiter Aerobatic Team. It was given the name Jupiter Blue. Drawing on the resources of several squadrons, it displayed with a mix of either three or five Hawk Mk.53s, one Hawk Mk.109 and two F-16As. While the jets all retained their centreline smoke systems, the Hawks gained underwing smoke pods and the F-16s – now wearing standard operational colours rather than their blue and gold Elang Biru schemes – were fitted with similar smoke pods on the wingtip missile rails. Jupiter Blue was disbanded in 2002 following a mid-air collision which killed four crewmen, including some of the Indonesian Air Force’s best and most experienced fighter pilots, and wrote off two Hawks.

After a six year hiatus, Jupiter Aerobatic Team was resurrected in 2008 by Skadron Pendidikan (Training Squadron) 102, this time flying four KT-1B Woongbis. The aircraft are in standard training colours save for a special tail scheme, and are fitted with smoke generators.

In 2010, team members travelled to Australia to recieve training from the RAAF Roulettes, participating in formation aerobatic training on the Pilatus PC-9 and riding in the back seat during Roulettes display practices. Based on these learnings, the Jupiter Aerobatic Team enhanced their display and expanded to a six-ship team in 2011.

The team has performed internationally several times, including at most recent editions of LIMA in Malaysia, as well as in Singapore, Thailand and Brunei. In 2015, the team experienced the first and only accident since being reformed, when two KT-1s of the synchro pair collided during an opposition pass; they were conducting a practice display at LIMA Langkawi at the time. Two aircraft were lost and a private residence was badly damaged, though nobody was seriously hurt.

Jupiter Aerobatic Team performed a “friendship flight” with the Black Eagles at LIMA 2017, as the two teams are the only ones in the world to use Korean-built aircraft. At around the same time, Indonesia also harboured hopes to relaunch Elang Biru using the same aircraft as the Black Eagles (the T-50 Golden Eagle). Eight T-50i jets were delivered to Skadron Udara 15 in blue and gold aerobatic team colours in 2013. These painted jets could be fitted with wingtip-mounted smoke generators and were used for solo displays on occasion; one was lost in an airshow accident in 2015, killing two pilots. Perhaps as a result of this accident and the Jupiter Aerobatic Team’s own scare earlier in the same year, the full team never came to fruition. By 2018, the seven surviving Elang Biru T-50s had been repainted in standard operational schemes.

Display

The display begins with several minutes of basic six-ship aerobatics before the two solo pilots split off for a series of opposition manoeuvres. The rest of the display consists of alternating four-ship, two-ship and solo aerobatics, following which the aircraft reform to close the display with five and six-ship manoeuvres. The display includes a number of crowd overflights and has to be extensively modified in other countries.