As reported by the IHS Jane’s, Indonesia plans to upgrade its airbase on Natuna Island in the province of Riau Islands so it can handle its Sukhoi combat aircraft as well as newly purchased AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters.

The plan comes on the heels of preparations at another air base in Pekanbaru in Riau mainland to receive a new squadron of F-16C/D purchased from the United States.

The significance of this new forward deployment strategy is that it drastically changes the previous strategy of deploying military assets mainly in the inner areas of the country.

…The writer, a graduate student at the Strategic Studies at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore, is program officer for defense and security studies at the Pacivis-Center for Global Civil Society Studies, University of Indonesia, Jakarta.