Northeast AsiaPartnershipsSoutheast Asia

Indonesia’s multilateral military exercise a ‘Super’ success

FORUM Staff

The 2024 Super Garuda Shield multinational military exercise in Java, Indonesia, enhanced Indo-Pacific nations’ interoperability and fostered goodwill among service members from 10 participating countries, as well as 12 observing nations and local communities. Primarily, it strengthened partner forces’ capability to work cohesively across multiple domains.

The 12-day exercise hosted by the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) rehearsed joint warfighting protocols, improved command and control functions, and increased joint staff effectiveness during crises. Along with academic exchanges and professional development workshops, drills at multiple locations included an amphibious raid to capture an enemy base, airborne operations, jungle training, and a live-fire exercise featuring High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, fixed-wing, 105 mm artillery and small arms weapons.

Indonesian, Japanese and United States troops conduct artillery, live-fire and airborne drills during Super Garuda Shield 2024 in Indonesia.
VIDEO CREDIT: CPL. OSMAR GUTIERREZ/CPL. ISAAC COPELAND/SPC. EVANGELOS WILSON/U.S. MARINE CORPS/U.S. ARMY

Super Garuda Shield held its first cyber defense training and a joint strike drill attended by Gen. Agus Subiyanto, TNI chief; and Adm. Samuel Paparo, Commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command.

“We aren’t doing this to project power, we are doing this to demonstrate will,” Paparo said. “A demonstration of will so that we don’t have to fight.”

Indonesian forces contributed their knowledge of the island nation’s diverse terrain and learned from collaborating with partner militaries, Lt. Col. Muhammad Ibrahim Sidik Soulisa, leader of Indonesia’s 514th Raider Infantry Battalion, told FORUM.

The exercise began as a bilateral exchange between the Indonesian and U.S. armies in 2007. It grew into a multilateral event in 2022. Nations participating in 2024 included Australia, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the United Kingdom, totaling about 5,500 service members.

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force personnel prepare to fire a mortar during Super Garuda Shield 2024 in Puslatpur, Indonesia.
IMAGE CREDIT: PFC. MARIAH AGUILAR/U.S. ARMY

The cyber exercise at an Indonesian naval base outside Surabaya involved personnel from Indonesia, Singapore, the U.K. and the U.S., and culminated in a scenario in which one team attempted to penetrate cyber networks defended by another team. “We’re using [the training] as a baseline to build on in future years,” facilitator Col. Glen Hayase of Hawaii’s Air National Guard told FORUM. “Going forward, the plan is to make things more complex, to expand the multinational participation and further develop technical skills for our partner nations.”

Royal Australian Navy Cmdr. Andy Clowes said major exercises such as Super Garuda Shield aim to get everyone on the same page. “The key to fighting is actually having those relationships to start with,” he told FORUM. “So that is always useful at a military-to-military level — understanding one another from both a military perspective, which is the easy part, and a cultural perspective, which is often the hard part.”

Instilling an appreciation of local culture and communities was part of the training regimen. A task force of Canadian, Indonesian and U.S. forces built an access road for military and civilian use in Puslatpur, and Indonesian and U.S. Soldiers logged 15,000 hours rehabilitating nine buildings at an elementary school in East Java’s Palagan province. At a ribbon-cutting ceremony, principal Mohamad Yasin spoke of a “new spirit, a new home and a brighter future” for students.

“We are not only training with our partners but also engaging with the local population,” said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Kevin James Williams, the 25th Infantry Division’s deputy commanding general for operations and the exercise’s Army forces commander. “Through engineering projects, medical exchanges and other community-focused initiatives, we are building bonds that go beyond the military, fostering goodwill and mutual respect.”

Australian Army Maj. Nathan Lee, commander of 114 Delta Company Soldiers at the exercise, emphasized the importance of respecting other cultures. He included translators in his unit and insisted that participating troops learn Indonesian words. “We’re good at fighting together,” he told FORUM. “We want to be able to communicate better.”

Maj. Carl Schroeder, commander of the British Army’s B Company, stationed in Brunei, told FORUM that the multinational exercise enhances each unit’s understanding of how other militaries think and work. “It’s about forming those relationships now,” he said, “so that in the future, we can just pick up the phone, call people in different countries, and say, ‘How can we help you?’”

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