Italy’s Retired Aircraft Carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi Set to Join Indonesian Navy by October 2026, Marking Southeast Asia’s First Full-Deck Carrier Era

(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) — Italy’s retired aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi could enter service with the Indonesian Navy by October 2026, a development that would constitute a structural inflection point in Southeast Asia’s naval modernisation trajectory as Jakarta positions itself to operate the region’s first full-deck aviation ship amid intensifying Indo-Pacific maritime competition and expanding great-power naval deployments.

“For Garibaldi, it is still in process. We hope it can arrive in Indonesia before the TNI anniversary,” said Admiral Muhammad Ali, Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Navy, while Brigadier General Rico Ricardo Sirait, Head of the Defence Ministry’s Public Relations and Information Bureau, clarified that “The Giuseppe Garibaldi is a grant from the Italian government. The Indonesian government will allocate a budget for retrofitting or adjustments to meet the operational needs of the Indonesian Navy.”

This carefully structured grant-and-refit arrangement, combined with a foreign loan package reportedly reaching US$450 million (approximately RM2.12 billion) for acquisition and associated systems, alongside US$250 million (RM1.18 billion) for transport helicopters and US$300 million (RM1.41 billion) for carrier-optimised utility helicopters, signals a calibrated financial strategy designed to deliver carrier capability without incurring the multi-billion-dollar costs typically associated with new-build aviation platforms.

 

Should the vessel arrive in time for the 81st anniversary of the Indonesian National Armed Forces on 5 October 2026, the symbolic resonance would extend beyond ceremony, marking Jakarta’s deliberate transition from a historically green-water coastal defence posture toward a blue-water operational doctrine capable of sustained aviation-enabled presence across the Malacca, Sunda and Lombok straits.

The transfer would elevate Indonesia into an exclusive Asian cohort of carrier-operating states, joining China, India, Japan and Thailand in possessing a sea-based aviation platform, thereby recalibrating regional naval hierarchies within an Indo-Pacific battlespace increasingly defined by maritime chokepoints, submarine competition and strategic sea lane protection.

For a nation comprising more than 17,000 islands and overseeing critical sea lines of communication linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the integration of a full-deck aviation ship offers not merely prestige but an operational multiplier effect spanning maritime domain awareness, anti-submarine warfare, amphibious support and high-tempo humanitarian assistance.

The vessel’s arrival would also intersect with Indonesia’s broader naval expansion strategy, which has already seen enhanced cooperation with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri through recent frigate deliveries, reinforcing bilateral defence-industrial ties while smoothing logistical integration pathways for the potential carrier transfer.

At a time when Indo-Pacific naval budgets are expanding and ASEAN states face mounting pressure to secure territorial waters against piracy, grey-zone incursions and natural disasters, Jakarta’s pursuit of Giuseppe Garibaldi underscores an ambition to anchor Indonesia’s maritime identity in credible power projection rather than reactive coastal surveillance.

If consummated, the deal would not merely introduce a legacy Italian flagship into Southeast Asian waters, but institutionalise carrier aviation doctrine within the TNI AL for the first time, reshaping training pipelines, procurement priorities and operational planning frameworks for decades to come.

In strategic terms, the red-and-white ensign flying from a former NATO carrier would symbolise Indonesia’s maturation into a central maritime actor within the Indo-Pacific security architecture, with implications extending well beyond ceremonial fleet reviews.

A Combat-Proven Italian Aviation Platform with Strategic Legacy

Laid down by Fincantieri at Monfalcone in March 1981, launched in June 1983 and commissioned on 30 September 1985, Giuseppe Garibaldi emerged as Italy’s first through-deck aviation ship and the smallest fixed-wing aircraft carrier ever to serve with a major navy, reflecting Cold War-era design priorities focused on anti-submarine warfare in the Mediterranean theatre.

Measuring 180.2 metres in length with a beam of 33.4 metres and a post-upgrade full-load displacement of approximately 13,850 to 14,150 tonnes, the vessel was engineered to combine compact dimensions with aviation flexibility, enabling operations in confined maritime environments without sacrificing multi-mission adaptability.

Her propulsion architecture—four GE/Avio LM2500 gas turbines generating approximately 81,000 horsepower—delivers speeds exceeding 30 knots and a cruising range of 7,000 nautical miles at 20 knots, providing the endurance necessary for sustained Indo-Pacific deployments should Indonesia integrate her into blue-water patrol cycles.

The 174-metre flight deck, equipped with a four-degree ski-jump ramp originally optimised for AV-8B Harrier II short take-off and vertical landing fighters, represents a structural advantage for helicopter and unmanned aerial vehicle operations, even if Indonesia elects not to pursue fixed-wing STOVL integration.

Her aviation facilities historically supported up to 18 helicopters or a mixed air wing of 16 Harrier jets alongside search-and-rescue platforms, a configuration that would translate into significant lift capacity for Indonesia’s disaster response and maritime security missions.

Defensive systems—including twin Mk 29 octuple Sea Sparrow/Aspide surface-to-air missile launchers, DARDO 40 mm guns, triple 324 mm torpedo tubes and legacy anti-ship missile provisions—underscore the vessel’s capacity for layered self-defence, although Indonesian refit priorities are expected to emphasise communications, medical facilities and rotary-wing optimisation.

During nearly four decades of service with the Italian Navy, the carrier accumulated a combat record spanning Kosovo in 1999, Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001–2002 and NATO’s 2011 Libya intervention, during which her embarked aircraft conducted sustained strike operations and accumulated thousands of flight hours.

Her decommissioning on 1 October 2024, following replacement by the larger amphibious assault ship Trieste, closed a chapter in Italian naval aviation history while opening the possibility of strategic transfer to a Southeast Asian navy seeking rapid capability acquisition.

For Indonesia, acquiring a combat-proven hull rather than commissioning a new-build platform offers immediate doctrinal experimentation at a fraction of the estimated US$1.5–3 billion (RM7.05–RM14.1 billion) price tag associated with contemporary light carriers or amphibious assault ships.

Thus, the vessel’s Cold War heritage converges with Jakarta’s twenty-first century maritime calculus, transforming an Italian legacy platform into a potential catalyst for Indonesian blue-water ambition.

Indonesia’s Carrier Ambition and Archipelagic Imperatives

Indonesia’s longstanding interest in aviation-capable vessels reflects structural geographic realities, as the world’s largest archipelagic state must safeguard more than 108 million square kilometres of maritime territory while contending with seismic volatility, cyclones and complex littoral security challenges.

In repeated strategic assessments, Indonesian naval planners have identified the operational gap between existing Landing Platform Dock assets—each capable of deploying three to five helicopters—and the transformative lift potential offered by a full-deck aviation ship capable of embarking up to 18 rotary-wing aircraft.

“Disasters repeatedly shut ports, crack runways and cut roads. Civilian logistics fail fast, but the sea stays open,” observed an expert analysis published in December 2025, encapsulating the logistical logic underpinning Jakarta’s carrier deliberations.

In scenarios analogous to the 2004 Aceh tsunami, a carrier functioning simultaneously as a floating command centre, hospital facility and helicopter hub could compress response timelines dramatically, enhancing Indonesia’s capacity to project humanitarian assistance both domestically and regionally.

Yet humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, while central to the public narrative, intersect with broader strategic considerations tied to maritime chokepoint control and the safeguarding of trade arteries linking East Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

A mobile aviation platform enhances maritime domain awareness by extending airborne surveillance coverage across contested waters, enabling anti-submarine patrols, anti-piracy operations and visible deterrence patrols in areas overlapping with South China Sea tensions.

The integration of rotary-wing anti-submarine warfare helicopters or carrier-compatible unmanned aerial systems would amplify Indonesia’s ability to monitor submarine transits through the Malacca, Sunda and Lombok straits, waterways through which a significant percentage of global maritime trade transits annually.

From a signalling perspective, the presence of a carrier in multinational exercises or ASEAN-led humanitarian missions would subtly recalibrate regional perceptions of Indonesian capability without overtly targeting any specific state actor.

Indonesia’s naval evolution therefore reflects not an abrupt militarisation impulse but a methodical recalibration toward layered maritime resilience, blending HADR functionality with credible sea-control attributes.

In this context, Giuseppe Garibaldi represents less an end-state solution than a doctrinal stepping stone toward indigenous or next-generation aviation ship design, embedding carrier expertise within the TNI AL institutional framework.

Financial Architecture, Refit Pathways and Operational Configuration

The financial architecture underpinning the potential transfer illustrates Jakarta’s preference for cost-managed capability acquisition, leveraging the vessel’s status as a grant while allocating substantial funds for retrofitting and aviation integration to align the platform with Indonesian operational doctrine.

The reported US$450 million (RM2.12 billion) loan package for acquisition and associated equipment, when combined with helicopter procurement funding exceeding US$550 million (RM2.59 billion), yields a total investment envelope approaching US$1 billion (approximately RM4.71 billion), still significantly below the cost of constructing a comparable new platform.

Most defence analysts anticipate that the vessel will function primarily as a helicopter and unmanned aerial vehicle carrier rather than a fixed-wing STOVL platform, given Indonesia’s absence of Harrier aircraft and the high acquisition and sustainment costs associated with second-hand AV-8B fleets.

Instead, a likely air wing configuration could include anti-submarine warfare helicopters, utility and transport helicopters funded under the recent loan package, and potentially unmanned aerial systems capable of persistent maritime surveillance.

Refit modifications are expected to prioritise removal or upgrading of legacy Italian systems, integration of Indonesian communications and command networks, expanded medical facilities for HADR missions, and adaptation of aviation fuel and munitions storage for rotary-wing operations.

The compressed timeline targeting October 2026 suggests that delivery may precede extensive modification, with initial operational capability achieved through phased upgrades conducted in Indonesian shipyards with Italian technical assistance.

Training pipelines will require accelerated development of carrier-qualified deck crews, aviation maintenance specialists, air-traffic controllers and command staff, necessitating bilateral cooperation and potentially third-party advisory support to mitigate institutional learning curves.

Annual operating costs, projected between US$50 million and US$80 million (RM235 million to RM376 million), will demand sustained budgetary commitment to avoid the maintenance pitfalls that have constrained similar platforms elsewhere in the region.

By structuring the acquisition around incremental capability growth rather than immediate fixed-wing integration, Indonesia mitigates financial risk while preserving the option to expand aviation complexity in the future.

Consequently, the deal reflects a deliberate balance between ambition and fiscal prudence, aligning maritime transformation with sustainable defence budgeting parameters.

Strategic Reverberations Across the Indo-Pacific Maritime Order

Should Giuseppe Garibaldi enter Indonesian service on schedule, the strategic reverberations will extend beyond Southeast Asia, signalling to both regional neighbours and extra-regional powers that Jakarta intends to anchor its maritime policy in credible sea-based aviation capability.

China’s expanding carrier fleet, India’s operational carriers and Japan’s F-35B-capable helicopter destroyers have collectively elevated the role of sea-based aviation in Indo-Pacific deterrence dynamics, intensifying the relevance of Indonesia’s prospective acquisition.

Although Indonesian officials emphasise that the carrier is not aimed at any specific country, its deployment patterns—particularly in joint patrols or multinational exercises—would inevitably shape regional threat perceptions and maritime calculus.

For ASEAN, the platform could strengthen collective disaster response capacity, reinforcing Indonesia’s leadership role within the bloc while enhancing interoperability with partner navies during humanitarian contingencies.

The ship’s presence in key maritime corridors would also contribute to stabilising sea lines of communication that underpin global commerce, reinforcing Indonesia’s commitment to a rules-based maritime order.

At the same time, Jakarta must navigate the operational complexities inherent in carrier ownership, including lifecycle sustainment, air wing modernisation and doctrinal integration within a navy historically oriented toward coastal defence.

Strategically, the vessel’s integration may catalyse further investment in escort vessels, submarines and maritime patrol aircraft, as carrier operations inherently demand layered protection and integrated task group capabilities.

The acquisition thus acts as both capability enabler and strategic catalyst, compelling Indonesia to accelerate broader fleet modernisation efforts to ensure credible carrier strike group formation in the longer term.

Within the contested waters of the Indo-Pacific, where maritime chokepoints intersect with geopolitical rivalry, Indonesia’s entry into the carrier-operating community recalibrates the region’s naval equilibrium in subtle yet consequential ways.

If the former Italian flagship sails under Indonesian colours by October 2026, it will not merely commemorate a national anniversary, but crystallise Jakarta’s transformation into a maritime power prepared to operate, influence and stabilise one of the world’s most strategically vital oceanic crossroads. — DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA