Surabaya: Indonesia and Russia kicked off their first joint naval drills on Monday, as the Southeast Asian archipelago's new leader seeks to boost ties with Moscow.

The region's biggest economy maintains a neutral foreign policy, refusing to take sides in the Ukraine conflict or in great power competition between Washington and Beijing.

But newly inaugurated Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has pledged to be bolder on the world stage and in July visited Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin.
As quoted from AFP, Tuesday 5 November 2024, The five-day drills will take place in two phases at a naval base in Surabaya and in the Java Sea.

Russia has sent three corvette class warships, a medium tanker ship, a military helicopter, and a tug boat, the Indonesian navy said in a statement last week.

Local broadcasters showed Russian ships calling into port and being welcomed by an Indonesian marching band on Sunday ahead of the drills.

Analysts say the joint exercises signal Prabowo is beginning a significant foreign policy shift, pledging to boost Jakarta's alliances with major powers.

During a visit to the Kremlin in July, Prabowo — a 73-year-old ex-general — said he wanted to deepen the relationship with Russia.

"We consider Russia as a great friend and I would like to continue to maintain and enhance this relationship," Prabowo told Putin.

The southeast Asian ASEAN bloc, which Indonesia is a member of, held joint exercises with Russia in 2021, but Jakarta had never held drills alone with Moscow before this week.

Jakarta has billion-dollar trade ties with Moscow, yet major arms imports have stalled in recent years after Russia seized Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale military offensive on Ukraine in 2022.

Still, since becoming defense minister in 2019 Prabowo has kept alive a $1.1 billion Russian fighter jet deal agreed a year earlier, despite the reported threat of U.S. sanctions.

(FJR)

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Sejumlah alat utama sistem persenjataan (alutsista) milik Angkatan LautAmerika Serikat (AS) atau United States Navy telah tiba di Indonesia menjelang latihan multilateral Super Garuda Shield 2024.

Diangkut menggunakan kapal MV Cape Husdon berbendera Amerika Serikat, sejumlah alutsista tiba di Dermaga Tanjung Wangi, Banyuwangi, Jawa Timur, Senin (12/8/2024).

Alutsista seperti helikopter tempur dan angkut milik United States Navy itu kemudian diturunkan dari MV Cape Husdon.

Pimpinan TNI menugaskan prajurit Pangkalan TNI AL (Lanal) Banyuwangi dalam rangka mendukung kelancaran dan keamanan proses debarkasi tersebut.

“Atas petunjuk pimpinan, kami kerahkan prajurit Lanal Banyuwangi beserta unsur Patroli Keamanan Laut (Patkamla) KAL Rajegwesi II-5-40, KAL Sembulungan II-5-42, Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) dan Rigid Bouyancy Boat (RBB) untuk melaksanakan pengamanan di area Dermaga Tanjung Wangi dari H-1 hingga selesai kegiatan,” kata Komandan Lanal (Danlanal) Banyuwangi Letkol Laut (P) Hafidz dalam siaran pers Pusat Penerangan (Puspen) TNI, Senin.

Adapun latihan gabungan bersama Super Garuda Shield 2024 akan digelar di tiga lokasi, yakni Situbondo, Jawa Timur; Karawang, Jawa Barat; dan Baturaja, Sumatera Selatan.

“Pelaksanaan (Super) Garuda Shield akan diadakan mulai 26 Agustus sampai 5 September (2024),” ujar Mayjen R Nugraha Gumilar sewaktu menjabat Kepala Pusat Penerangan (Kapuspen) TNI, 3 Juli 2024.

Gumilar mengatakan, rencananya, pendaratan atau operasi amfibi akan digelar di Pantai Banongan, Situbondo.

Kemudian, operasi penerjunan atau lintas udara (linud) akan dilakukan di Karawang.

Sedangkan, latihan penembakan artileri akan digelar di Baturaja.

Terdapat 14 negara yang ikut Super Garuda Shield tahun ini. Negara yang mengirim alutsista beserta prajurit, antara lain Indonesia, Amerika Serikat, Australia, Jepang, Singapura, Inggris.

Kemudian, negara obsever atau pengamat, antara lain Inggris, Singapura, Jepang, Australia, Selandia Baru, Kanada, Papua Nugini, Brunei Darussalam, Perancis, Jerman, Filipina, Korea Selatan, dan Timor Leste.

Super Garuda Shield adalah latihan bersama dan gabungan tahunan antara TNI dan Komando Indo-Pasifik Amerika Serikat.

Super Garuda Shield dirancang untuk memperkuat interoperabilitas, kemampuan, rasa saling percaya, dan kerja sama yang telah dibangun dari pengalaman bersama selama beberapa dekade.