Indonesia to Get First Aircraft Carrier From Italy
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Italian Parliament approved PM Meloni's plan to donate the decommissioned Giuseppe Garibaldi to Indonesia on April 28, with Naval Chief Admiral Muhammad Ali saying the carrier could join the Indonesian Navy as early as October 5.
- Indonesia would become the second Southeast Asian nation after Thailand to operate an aircraft carrier, part of President Prabowo Subianto's modernization drive that has already inked deals for six FREMM-class and two Maestrale-class frigates from Italy, 42 Rafale fighters and two Scorpène-class submarines from France, and 48 KAAN jets from Türkiye.
- Prabowo Subianto is balancing the U.S. and China — Beijing's aggressive posture on the Natuna Islands forced Indonesia to officially recognize the South China Sea dispute for the first time in 2024, while a leaked U.S. "blanket overflight rights" deal in April triggered a domestic political storm in Jakarta.
- Admiral Ali framed the carrier's role as "non-war military operations" and disaster relief, but retired Indian Commodore Deepak Bhatia, who served aboard INS Viraat, countered that "you don't induct an aircraft carrier only for disaster relief missions," arguing it will enhance Indonesia's offensive and power projection capabilities.
- Indonesia faces a V/STOL aircraft gap for the carrier — the U.S. rejected its F-35 bid, and Chinese and French options lack vertical take-off capabilities, while Fincantieri has proposed converting the ship into a helicopter or drone carrier instead.
- Thailand's Chakri Narubet offers a cautionary tale — plagued by maintenance failures, rarely deployed, and now better known as a tourist attraction than a warship — raising doubts about whether Indonesia's limited defense budget and near-zero carrier experience can sustain the 40-year-old vessel.
Why it matters: The Garibaldi gives Prabowo a concrete defense win as he navigates simultaneous friction with Washington (the overflight scandal) and Beijing (Natuna Islands aggression). Operationally, the 40-year-old ship faces an aircraft mismatch — Indonesia was rejected for the F-35 and has no V/STOL alternative — and Thailand's Chakri Narubet shows carriers can become white elephants when budgets and experience fall short.
