The First Indonesian Aircraft Carrier is Not Just a Trojan Flattop
The Italian Harrier carrier ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi (C 551) was built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone in the early 1980s and commissioned in September 1985.
At 14,150 tons and 591 feet overall, she could carry as many as 18 aircraft, a mix of Harriers and helos.
Italian Navy ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi (C-551) with nine AV-8B Harrier IIs and one Sea King on the flight deck carrier
During her 39-year-and-1-day career with the Italian fleet, she saw active combat with her AV-8B IIs thrice: Kosovo (1999, 30 sorties including warshot Mk 82 GBU-16 bombs and AGM-65 Maverick missiles), OEF Afghanistan (December 2001 to March 2002, 288 sorties) and Libya (2011, dropped 160 Mk82s across 1,221 flight hours).
Garibaldi was the Amphibious Task Force Commander Landing Force in Norway in 2024
Augmented in 2008 by the STOVL F-35B-capable ITS Cavour (CVH 550) and replaced by the 33,000-ton ITS Trieste (L 9890), she was decommissioned on 1 October 2024.
Given to Indonesia as a grant after two years in ordinary service, Garibaldi departed Taranto for Indonesia on the evening of 24 August 2026 under the Italian flag and arrived in Indonesia on 20 September, swapping flags four days later when she became KRI Sriwijaya (100), commissioned by TNI Commander General Agus Subiyanto in Tanjung Priok. Her voyage included 100 selected Indonesian Navy personnel and a training team of Italian specialists from DRASS, led by retired ADM Liborio Palmombella.
Sriwijaya’s escorts will be four Balaputradewa-class frigates, a licensed British Arrowhead Type 31 variant currently under construction by PT PAL, equipped with 64 VLS cells loaded with a mix of Turkish HISAR MR and SIPER LRs.
Operational
With a reduced 400-man crew (the Italians ran 550 plus embarked air group), she has been conducting rotor operations underway in the past couple of weeks with, first, AS565 MBe Panther ASW aircraft of Skadron Udara 100, then Bell 412EP medivac aircraft of Skadron Udara 400, and four big AS332 Super Pumas and H225Ms of Skadron Udara 8.
The exercise also covered several advanced flight techniques, including high-altitude reconnaissance (High Recce) and low-altitude reconnaissance (Low Recce), simulated approaches without touching the ship’s deck (Dummy Approach), brief landings followed by immediate takeoffs (Touch and Go), and full-stop landings (Full Stop).
Drone carrier use?
The Navy also plans to carry Turkish Bayraktar TB3 combat UAVs in the future (60 are on order), which are also planned for Turkey’s local flat-top, the LHD Anadolu.
A Bayraktar TB2 medium-altitude long-endurance tactical UCAV configured as an airborne mothership carrying 16 Skydagger FPV kamikaze drones (eight under each wing) during a test in Keşan, Edirne, Türkiye.
Should we mention that the RN recently tested its first offensive drones from HMS Queen Elizabeth?
Could Indonesia be the last Harrier operator?
The country’s CNO, Admiral TNI Muhammad Ali, also said there could be plans to add Harriers back to the carrier. Keep in mind that the Italians and Spaniards still operate the last pool and plan to retire them in just a few years.
“Yes, the hope is like that. If the Navy wants it to be like that. But it depends on the budget conditions and others,” Ali said when asked by reporters about the plan to target Harrier fighter aircraft for aircraft carriers at Tanjung Priok Port, North Jakarta, in September.