Does Indonesia’s planned acquisition of an aircraft carrier raise any concerns in India, given that Great Nicobar is no more than 160-km from Aceh province and sits at the mouth of the Malacca Straits?
That may have mattered in the 1960s when India had concerns about the security of the Andaman islands with a pro-China government under the late President Sukarno.
“In fact, Indonesia had built up a fairly formidable navy courtesy the former Soviet Union,” recalled Rear Admiral Monty Khanna, (Retd), former asst chief of naval staff (foreign cooperation & intelligence), “they had Sverdlov class cruisers displacing over 16,000 tons, also Whiskey class submarines and missile boats.”
Sukarno had even asked Pakistan if Indonesia should occupy the Andaman Islands. But once Sukarno was stripped of his power and position by Gen Suharto in 1967, the navy went into steady decline.
“Indonesia is an archipelagic nation with thousands of islands,” said Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd), former chief of naval staff. “and the acquisition of the Italian carrier Garibaldi, which is coming free, suggests Jakarta is getting serious about securing its island territories.”
So in about five months, Indonesia will be the fourth Asian country (after India, China and Thailand) to commission an aircraft carrier into its navy.
“It a 41-year old vessel of about 10,000 tons, smaller than the old INS Vikrant (16,000-tons) but about the same size as the Chakri Narubet (11,400 tons) of the Thai Navy,” Adm Prakash said. “It could easily last ten years if not more and the Indonesians have shown considerable ability to innovate when renovating/refurbishing old ships.”
Indonesia has indicated its plan to use the carrier to better police the large number of uninhabited islands that dot the archipelago. The carrier would also be useful in the HADR (humanitarian assistance/disaster relief) role, providing space for medical teams, engineers and so on.
The Harrier jump jets on the carrier may not form part of the package given that they are very old and have been mostly phased out by air forces operating them including those of India, UK and Spain. The US is expected to start phasing them out soon.
The Garibaldi acquisition underscores an important point, Indonesia did not go to China, which has built two aircraft carriers and scores of other surface ships and submarines.
Jakarta may go to China later perhaps for a landing platform dock (LPD), like Thailand did, but the preference seems to be for Western designs. Indonesia has also assembled a South Korean submarine, indicating a level of defence industrial sophistication.
How does India see the Garibaldi acquisition in the context of the Bay of Bengal as the basing area for the navy’s SSBNs?
“The Bay of Bengal is a sensitive area for us,” said Rear Admiral Khanna, “and there may be no cause for concern now but if there is some collusion with China, we will have to be on our guard.”
Important to note that India’s maritime boundary with Indonesia is settled, India is helping build the Subang Port in Aceh and there were reports that Jakarta was keen on the Brahmos missile (they have since bought the Yakhont from Russia).
The visit of President Subianto in Jan 2025, did much to shore up the political side of the relationship. But one wonders how much of the expansive joint statement issued during his visit, has been advanced upon.
The joint statement had a detailed reference to defence and security including cooperation in military modernisation, collaboration in defence industry and so on. Given the positive political winds, there may be no time better than the present to take that forward.
