Indonesia welcomes its first aircraft carrier

Indonesia has taken delivery of its first aircraft carrier, a former Italian warship the government says will strengthen the archipelago nation's maritime security and disaster response capabilities.

The 41-year-old former ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi, with capacity for short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft and helicopters, arrived on Friday morning at a naval base in North Jakarta's Tanjung Priok seaport, where it was welcomed with a military ceremony.

Italy in March agreed to give the carrier, which was retired in 2024, to Indonesia in a move aimed at boosting Italy's broader defence engagement with the Southeast Asian country.

Italy is seeking deals on submarines and aircraft, and gifting the carrier to Indonesia also saves it the cost of decommissioning the ship.

The transfer would make Indonesia only the second country in Southeast Asia with a carrier in its fleet. The first was Thailand's HTMS Chakri Naruebet, which was commissioned in 1997 after being procured from Spain along with carrier-capable AV-8S Matador jump jets.

The carrier will be formally commissioned into the Indonesian Navy next week as the KRI Gajah Mada, named after the famed 14th-century Majapahit-era military leader, whose campaigns and vision of a unified archipelago have made him one of Indonesia's most celebrated historical figures.

Defence development was one of the top priorities for President Prabowo Subianto's administration, as he has advocated an expansion of the military through the purchase of submarines, frigates, fighter jets, missiles and pushed for more defence co-operation with various countries.

But the Garibaldi acquisition has sparked a fierce debate among defence analysts, economists and opposition politicians who question whether Indonesia needs an aircraft carrier at all and whether the government should be spending millions of dollars to refurbish and operate an aging warship while facing mounting fiscal pressures at home.

Indonesia's Finance Ministry approved $US450 million ($A633 million) in financing for the aircraft carrier program in 2025. However, some lawmakers have warned the overall bill could be far higher. TB Hasanuddin, a member of Parliament's Commission I, said the cost of retrofitting the carrier alone could reach 16 trillion rupiah (about $US900 million) ($A1.3 billion).

Unlike major naval powers that use aircraft carriers to launch fighter jets far from home shores, Indonesia views 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 in September, Prabowo said the vessel would help authorities combat forest and peatland fires that regularly blanket parts of Southeast Asia with hazardous haze.

"We will refurbish it and convert it into a carrier for helicopters and drones," Prabowo said in a video briefing.

He also outlined plans to operate drones from the ship and use it as a mobile platform that could be rapidly deployed to help in the event of natural disasters, which are common in Indonesia, a nation that sits in the Pacific "Ring of Fire".