Can Indonesia’s First Aircraft Carrier Deliver Disaster Relief?

Indonesia received its first aircraft carrier on Friday when the former Italian navy vessel Giuseppe Garibaldi docked at Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta after sailing from Italy through Colombo and the Malacca Strait. The 180-metre ship, commissioned in 1985 and retired by Italy in 2014, will be renamed KRI Sriwijaya. President Prabowo Subianto says it will help manage disasters across the archipelago; Navy Chief of Staff Muhammad Ali also said it could undertake combat missions if necessary.

Italy transferred the carrier as part of closer defence engagement, avoiding its own decommissioning expense while seeking Indonesian business involving submarines and aircraft. Indonesia’s Finance Ministry approved $450m in financing for the carrier programme in 2025, though opposition politicians warn that the full bill could be higher. The navy says the ship remains in very good condition and may serve for another 15 to 20 years. It can carry as many as 18 helicopters and accommodate up to 830 people.

The strongest case for the flight deck

Indonesia’s geography gives the relief argument real weight. After an earthquake, volcanic eruption or severe storm, damaged roads and small ports can isolate communities across an immense island chain. A mobile deck carrying helicopters, medical teams, communications equipment and pallets of food could approach a stricken region without waiting for an airport to reopen. It could serve as a staging point rather than merely another ship delivering cargo to one usable pier.

That case is capability, not yet proof of value. A carrier needs trained crews, aviation maintenance, fuel, spare parts, suitable ports and often escorts. A 41-year-old hull may demand increasing attention even if its present condition is sound. Every rupiah devoted to keeping the deck available is unavailable for transport helicopters, hospital ships, landing craft, local warehouses or stronger ports. Prestige does not invalidate utility. It can, however, make utility harder to audit.

Two missions, one budget

The vessel’s imperial name and carrier silhouette evoke an older language of maritime reach; its proposed new name recalls the Srivijaya empire, once a dominant naval and trading power. That heritage suits a military modernisation campaign. Disaster relief offers broader public legitimacy, while combat readiness serves the strategic purpose that carriers traditionally advertise. The missions can coexist, but they create competing choices about aircraft, training, deployment and who controls the ship during a civilian emergency.

The proper comparison is therefore not carrier versus no response. It is carrier response versus combinations of sealift, hospital capacity, helicopters based ashore, resilient local ports and supplies positioned before a disaster. A carrier may excel when runways are unusable and several helicopter sorties must begin close to the affected area. It may be excessive when a working port and smaller ships can deliver more cargo at lower operating cost.

Indonesia can make the relief claim credible by publishing dedicated operating budgets, holding exercises with civilian disaster agencies, measuring sailing and launch times, and defining who directs missions once an emergency begins. If KRI Sriwijaya repeatedly reaches remote islands faster than the alternatives and sustains useful helicopter operations there, the old warship will have acquired a convincing second life. Until then, disaster relief remains a mission announced at the pier, awaiting evidence at sea.