Indonesia-U.S. war games start

Troops from Australia, Japan, Singapore, France and Britain are also participating in the Super Garuda Shield.

DT·1 September 2023, 1:20 am·1 min read

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Indonesia-U.S. war games start — A US soldier takes part in the Super Garuda Shield 2022 joint military exercise with Indonesia in Baturaja, South Sumatra on August 12, 2022. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)

Thousands of Indonesian and American troops kicked off their annual war games Thursday with participants from the United States' allies Australia, Japan, Singapore, France and Britain.

Dubbed Super Garuda Shield, the two-week joint military exercises started in Baluran, East Java with more than 2,000 American troops and 2,800 Indonesian soldiers taking part.

Indonesian armed forces chief Yudo Margono opened the war games in a morning ceremony.

"This joint, multinational training exercise displays our collective commitment and like-minded unity, allowing for a stable, secure, and more peaceful, free and open Indo-Pacific," General Charles Flynn, commanding general of US Army Pacific, said in a statement.

The drills consist of expert academic exchanges and professional development workshops, a command and control simulation, an amphibious exercise, airborne operations, and a simulated airfield seizure.

There will also be a combined joint field training that culminates with a live-fire event, the US embassy said in a statement.

Flynn said the Super Garuda Shield 2023 build on last year's exercises which were held after Beijing staged unprecedented war games around Taiwan, which it claims as part of its territory.

Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Malaysia, the Netherlands, the Philippines, South Korea, New Zealand, East Timor, Brunei and Papua New Guinea are participating in the exercise as observer nations.

The US and its Asian allies have expressed growing concern about China's increasing assertiveness in the Pacific, but Washington has said the drills are not aimed at any country.

WITH AFP