Indonesia has received its first aircraft carrier, a 41-year-old former Italian warship that the government says will strengthen maritime security and help the sprawling archipelago respond to natural disasters.
The former Giuseppe Garibaldi arrived Friday at the Indonesian Navy base at Tanjung Priok port in northern Jakarta, where it was welcomed with a military ceremony. The ship, capable of operating short-takeoff and vertical-landing aircraft as well as helicopters, is due to formally enter Indonesian service next week under a new name: Gajah Mada.
The vessel is named after the celebrated 14th-century military leader who remains one of Indonesia’s most revered historical figures.
Its arrival gives the world’s largest Muslim-majority country its first aircraft carrier and makes Indonesia only the second Southeast Asian nation to operate one, after Thailand acquired a carrier from Spain in 1997.
A retired Italian carrier gets a second life
Italy agreed in March to transfer the Giuseppe Garibaldi to Indonesia after the ship was retired from service in 2024.
The transfer is part of Rome’s effort to deepen defense ties with Jakarta. Italy is also interested in deals to sell submarines and aircraft to Indonesia, while handing over the aging carrier saves Italy the expense of dismantling and decommissioning it.
According to the figures cited in the program, 17 countries worldwide operate aircraft carriers. The United States has a fleet of 20, China seven and Japan four, while the remaining countries operate one or two each. Israel has none.
(Photo: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
For Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, the acquisition is part of a broader push to expand and modernize the country’s military.
His administration has promoted purchases of submarines, frigates, fighter jets and missiles while seeking closer defense cooperation with a range of foreign partners.
But the Garibaldi acquisition has also triggered a sharp debate among security experts, economists and opposition politicians.
Critics have questioned whether Indonesia needs an aircraft carrier at all and whether the government should spend hundreds of millions of dollars refurbishing and operating a decades-old warship while facing growing pressure on the national budget.
A free ship, but an expensive program
Indonesia’s Finance Ministry approved $450 million in funding for the aircraft carrier program in 2025, though several lawmakers have warned that the eventual price tag could be substantially higher.
Unlike major naval powers that use aircraft carriers primarily to deploy fighter jets far from home, Indonesia envisions a different role for the ship.
(Photo: SATYA ADHI / AFP)
Officials see Gajah Mada as a mobile command center and a support hub for helicopters, drones and maritime operations across the country’s thousands of islands.
Prabowo said this month that the vessel could also assist authorities during forest and peatland fires. He outlined plans to operate drones from the carrier and use it as a mobile platform that could be deployed quickly to areas struck by natural disasters.
That role is particularly relevant for Indonesia, which sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is frequently hit by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters.
For Jakarta, the aging Italian carrier is therefore being presented not simply as a symbol of naval power, but as a floating command platform designed for the particular challenges of governing and protecting one of the world’s largest archipelagic states.
Whether that broader mission will justify the cost is now at the heart of the debate surrounding Indonesia’s newest and most unusual warship.