Indonesia gets first aircraft carrier as costs and role spark debate

Indonesia on Friday welcomed its first aircraft carrier, a former Italian warship that the government said would strengthen the country's maritime security and disaster response capabilities. The move will make Indonesia only the second country in Southeast Asia to have a carrier in its fleet, though the acquisition has already triggered debate over cost and operational need.

The 41-year-old former ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi arrived at a naval base in North Jakarta's Tanjung Priok seaport on Friday morning and was received with a military ceremony. The vessel, which has the capacity for short take-off and vertical landing aircraft and helicopters, will be formally commissioned into the Indonesian Navy next week as KRI Gajah Mada.

Italy agreed in March to give the carrier, which was retired in 2024, to Indonesia as part of a broader push to deepen defence ties with the Southeast Asian country. Italy is also seeking deals on submarines and aircraft, and the transfer of the carrier saves it the cost of decommissioning the ship.

The only other Southeast Asian country with a carrier is Thailand, whose HTMS Chakri Naruebet was commissioned in 1997 after being procured from Spain along with carrier-capable AV-8S Matador jump jets. Indonesia has named its carrier after Gajah Mada, the 14th-century Majapahit-era military leader whose campaigns and idea of a unified archipelago have made him one of the country's best-known historical figures.

Defence development has been one of the top priorities of President Prabowo Subianto's administration, which has pushed military expansion through the purchase of submarines, frigates, fighter jets and missiles, along with greater defence cooperation with other countries. But the Garibaldi's acquisition has sparked a sharp debate among defence analysts, economists and opposition politicians over whether Indonesia needs an aircraft carrier and whether millions of dollars should be spent on refurbishing and operating an ageing warship at a time of rising fiscal pressure.

Indonesia's Finance Ministry approved USD 450 million in financing for the aircraft carrier programme in 2025. However, some lawmakers have warned that the total cost could be much higher. TB Hasanuddin, a member of Parliament's Commission I, said the cost of retrofitting the carrier alone could reach 16 trillion rupiah, or about USD 900 million.

Unlike major naval powers that use aircraft carriers to launch fighter jets far from home shores, Indonesia sees the vessel as a mobile command centre and support hub for helicopters, uncrewed aircraft and maritime operations across its thousands of islands. Speaking during a disaster management meeting earlier this month, Prabowo said the ship would help authorities tackle forest and peatland fires that regularly send hazardous haze across parts of Southeast Asia.

"We will refurbish it and convert it into a carrier for helicopters and drones," Prabowo said in a video briefing. "This will greatly help our disaster response." He said the carrier could accommodate up to 10 medium-sized helicopters, including aircraft with capabilities comparable to the Black Hawk and Mi-17, and could carry large quantities of water for deployment to areas with large numbers of fire hot spots.

Prabowo also outlined plans to operate drones from the ship and use it as a mobile platform that could be deployed quickly during natural disasters, which are common in Indonesia, a country that sits in the Pacific "Ring of Fire".

Even so, operating a carrier is extremely expensive, and experts have questioned whether Indonesia has fully considered whether one is needed for defence or disaster relief. The acquisition comes as Southeast Asia's largest economy faces growing fiscal pressures, with Prabowo's government funding an ambitious free nutritious meals programme and other costly initiatives while economists warn of slower growth, weaker state revenues and tighter budget constraints.

"The plan to acquire the Garibaldi must be based on genuine operational needs and our ability to operate it, rather than being driven by pride or other considerations," said Muhammad Fauzan Malufti of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. He said policymakers must consider not only the vessel's acquisition and modernisation costs, but also the Navy's ability to sustain operations, including personnel, maintenance, fuel, weapons systems and supporting infrastructure.

Fauzan said the government should be transparent about those factors, especially given the vessel's age. He pointed to Thailand's carrier as a cautionary example, saying it has spent much of its service life in port because of operational and budget constraints. "The bottom line is that this should not be forced. Otherwise, the benefits could be outweighed by the costs," Fauzan said. "The money might be better spent on other priorities, such as increasing the number of frigates in the fleet."

Military analyst Khairul Fahmi of the Institute for Security and Strategic Studies said aircraft carriers were not a priority for Indonesia, which is focused on preventing adversaries from operating freely in the country's territorial waters. "Indonesia has a greater need for submarines, frigates and asymmetric weapons systems to protect its maritime sovereignty," he said.

At the same time, Fahmi said that if Indonesia wanted to position itself as a major maritime nation, "an aircraft carrier can be both a symbol of national power and a multifunctional platform capable of supporting a wide range of military and non-military missions". As Indonesia prepares to commission the former Giuseppe Garibaldi as KRI Gajah Mada next week, the ship stands as both a new naval asset and the centre of a wider debate over defence priorities, cost and its role in disaster response.