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strong>May 21, p4

Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Moeldoko said the country had no intention of procuring an aircraft carrier to strengthen its primary defense system.

'€œAn aircraft carrier is inappropriate for the Indonesian Military'€™s doctrine,'€ Moeldoko said as quoted by tempo.co on Monday.

He added that an aircraft carrier was unnecessary as the country had thousands of islands, from Aceh to Papua, that could accommodate the Air Force'€™s aircraft.

Your comments:

A wise decision given Indonesia has no ambition to extend its power beyond its borders. An aircraft carrier is little more than a sinkable airfield.

The chief advantage of an aircraft carrier is to take force well away from a nation'€™s borders, as seen in many US actions.

Aircraft carriers are largely of value as an offensive rather than a defensive weapon.

Australia had two aircraft carriers post World War II. They were not replaced when retired because, apart from being costly and vulnerable, it was realized that there were sufficient airfields to repel any threat.

Jagera

Aircraft carriers are deadly weapons because they can extend the very limited combat radius of aircrafts tremendously.

Normally an aircraft carrier can carry 70 to 80 fighter planes or small torpedo bombers (such as F-4 Phantoms or FA-18s) and bring them as close as possible to their target.

However they have serious weaknesses; they are easy targets for enemy attacks. During World War II, tragically, many aircraft carriers were sunk by simple weapons such as torpedoes fired from aircrafts or submarines.

In 1942, Japan lost four of its big carriers in a single day after being attacked by US Navy bombers during the famous '€œBattle of Midway'€. Those US bombers flew low over the carriers, dropped bombs and created an inferno on their flight decks, which were crowded with returning aircraft from previous missions being refueled and rearmed.  

In 1943, Japan lost Shinano, the world'€™s largest aircraft carrier, after it was torpedoed by a US submarine. Then in 1941, the German U-boat U-99 under Kapitan Kretschmer sank the British navy'€™s Ark Royal.

A few months later another British carrier, Courageous, was sunk by another U-boat. Hence, to survive, aircraft carriers are not stand-alone weapons. Besides their own aircraft, they require escort ships such as destroyers, cruisers or corvettes.  

Modern-day carriers are believed to be equipped with the most sophisticated electronic warfare (EW) capabilities, complete with electronic countermeasures (ECM), electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM) and state-of-the-art surface-to-air missiles.

Robby Kaware

Oh, so there is no force for inter-island patrols? All sorts of smuggling, from humans to commodities, is thriving: petrol, soil, drugs and arms. The general cannot claim the islands are secure.

Dinero