Indonesia’s Aircraft Carrier: White Horse or White Elephant?

If everything goes according to plan, Indonesia will be in possession of an aircraft carrier come Armed Forces Day on 5 October. When that happens, Indonesia will become only the second country in Southeast Asia, after Thailand, to possess such a vessel. This, however, does not mean that Indonesia’s maritime power will increase significantly. The issue here is prestige, not combat power per se.

The warship in question is the Italian navy’s Giuseppe Garibaldi. The 14,000-tonne flattop was commissioned in 1985 and equipped with a mix of AV-8B Harrier II short-take-off-and-vertical-landing (STOVL) fighter aircraft and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters. The carrier saw action in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Libya, and participated in several humanitarian and disaster relief (HADR) operations.

The ship was decommissioned in 2024. In the following year, the Italian government agreed to transfer it to Indonesia. A group of Indonesian sailors will soon depart for Italy to learn how to sail the Garibaldi to Indonesia.

The acquisition is part of President Subianto Prabowo’s ambitious plans to modernise the country’s armed forces. But his decision to procure a second-hand aircraft carrier from Italy has been met by defence analysts with a healthy dose of scepticism. To be fair, the scepticism is warranted.

Criticism of the deal falls into three main areas: age, cost and operational value.

When the Garibaldi was paid off, it was 39 years old. Although it had undergone two upgrades, in 2003 and 2013, it was ready for the breaker’s yard. The ship has since been stripped of its weaponry, and when it arrives in Indonesia, it will have to undertake a lengthy retrofit, possibly lasting several years.

A retrofit may only extend the life of the vessel for 5-10 years, after which it will need to be scrapped. The purchase is at odds with the Indonesian navy’s current policy of retiring warships over 30 years old.

The acquisition has also been criticised on the grounds of cost. Except for a transfer fee of USD60 million, Italy will not charge Indonesia for the carrier. But the total cost of refurbishing the vessel and equipping it with new armaments, engines, radars and helicopters is projected to be close to USD1 billion (some of the costs will be borne by a grant from Italy). In 2025, the Indonesian navy’s budget for the entire year was USD1.5 billion.

Operating costs could be as high as USD50-80 million per year. This will stretch Indonesia’s growing but still limited defence budget and divert funds away from the acquisition of new vessels that the navy urgently needs to patrol the country’s vast archipelago. These vessels include patrol boats, corvettes and frigates.

The third and more substantive set of criticisms relate to the ship’s operational value.

Jakarta has been at pains to emphasise that the carrier will not be used for offensive purposes but ‘military operations other than war’ (MOOTW), especially HADR operations. As a defence ministry spokesperson said “There is no intention on the part of our nation … to be aggressive by owning an aircraft carrier like this … there is no invasive intent.”

This is almost certainly true. Even if it wanted to use the carrier as a tool to project power, Indonesia lacks the operational experience, integrated naval platforms and fast jets to turn that ambition into a reality.

President Subianto Prabowo’s … decision to procure a second-hand aircraft carrier from Italy has been met by defence analysts with a healthy dose of scepticism. To be fair, the scepticism is warranted.

Integrating the Garibaldi with the navy’s frigates and submarines to create an effective carrier strike group would pose an enormous challenge, and without strong escort protection, a carrier is essentially a sitting duck in wartime, especially in an era of hypersonic missiles and drones.

Moreover, there are no suitable fighter jets available to equip the carrier. The Harrier jump jet, which was developed in the 1960s, is being phased out by all its current operators in favour of Lockheed Martin’s STOVL, the F-35B. Washington rejected Indonesia’s attempts to procure F-35s. China’s carrier-capable J-35 and France’s Rafale are launched using catapults which the Garibaldi lacks. The best that Indonesia can hope for is for the vessel to carry ASW helicopters and possibly surveillance and attack drones.

Carriers are designed for combat operations, and although they can be used in HADR missions, using them in that role is suboptimal. Carrier-based helicopters can be used to transfer aid to affected communities. But carriers are not equipped with well decks — compartments from which landing craft loaded with supplies and military personnel are launched. Ironically, Indonesia’s two hospital ships, based on domestically produced Makassar-class amphibious landing ships, are equipped to do so and have participated in HADR operations for Gaza.

The procurement plan’s shortcomings explain why the regional response to Indonesia’s acquisition of the Garibaldi has been muted. Indonesia’s helicopter carrier is not a game changer and will not alter the regional balance of power. No other Southeast Asian country is likely to follow suit.

Critics have pointed to Thailand’s HTMS Chakri Naruebet as a cautionary tale. The Thai navy took delivery of the vessel in 1997, but due to high operating costs and limited budgets, the helicopter carrier rarely put to sea (though it did conduct some HADR missions, most recently in November 2025).

Closer to home, Jakarta might do well to recall a previous decision to buy second-hand warships. In 1993, Jakarta purchased over 40 second-hand East German warships for a nominal fee. But the costs of refurbishing and operating the cold-climate designed and fuel-thirsty ships drained the defence budget. The ships were mainly confined to port until they were eventually scrapped. So why does President Prabowo want the Garibaldi? Aircraft carriers are potent symbols of national power. Only a few major maritime powers operate them, such as China, Britain, France, India, Japan and the US. Even if the carrier is a Cold War-era relic without any aircraft, it helps Indonesia join that elite club. 

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