By 
Indonesia has a new-ish aircraft carrier!
The best model for the Indonesia Navy may be the TCG Anadolu, a Turkish amphibious warship built along the same lines as vessels operating for Spain and Australia. While Anadolu was originally expected to fly the F-35B, disputes with Washington have put those plans on ice, perhaps permanently. Instead, the Turkish Navy has used Anadolu as a platform for experimenting with a variety of uncrewed aircraft, including the Bayraktar TB3 and the Bayraktar Kimilelma, both of which have multimission capabilities. Following the Turkish lead would allow Indonesia to avoid the expense of acquiring F-35Bs and, perhaps more importantly, the difficulties of maintaining trained pilots and aircrew for a very small combat wing. Indonesia has already signed a deal with Turkiye for the transfer of a number of drones, and may be able to take advantage of Turkiye’s experience operating advanced UAVs from a maritime platform.
If Anadolu represents the best case, the Thai Chakri Naruebet represents the worst. The Thai carrier was initially expected to operate AV-8B Harriers, but the notoriously difficult fighter proved too much of a hassle and the small force was retired in the early 2000s. Since the Chakri Naruebet has become known as a “harbor queen,” barely operational beyond a few high profile humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HADR) operations. Thailand had expected more from its carrier but serial financial crises de-emphasized the navy and the navy’s most expensive ship.
I don’t think that this is a terrible acquisition given where the technology (drones) is going and given Indonesia’s maritime responsibilities (“Islands, man. So many islands”). But the devil is in the maintenance, which is significant even without trying to hold together a squadron of pilots.
