The recent Exercise Wirra Jaya highlighted the deepening Australia-Indonesia defense relationship and the transformation of the nations’ military engagement.
About 200 personnel from the Indonesian Army and Australian Defence Force (ADF) conducted drills including urban combat at Robertson Barracks in Australia’s Northern Territory. The forces deployed the Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle, a mainstay of ADF tactical mobility.
The exercise’s main objective is “improving the interoperability and tactical capabilities of Soldiers from both armies,” Indonesian defense analyst Beni Sukadis told FORUM. The engagement generates updated standard operating procedures, readiness metrics, and brigade-level coordination practices for rapid deployment and integrated combat planning.
The operational depth reflects a transformation enabled by the bilateral defense cooperation agreement (DCA) signed in August 2024. The DCA established the legal framework for the nations’ militaries to engage in more complex joint activities, operate from each other’s territories, and expand cooperation across maritime security, logistics, education, and disaster relief. The agreement represents a mutual commitment to uphold regional stability and the rules-based order, Australia’s Defence Department stated.
The DCA’s benefits initially were highlighted during Keris Woomera 2024, the nations’ “largest combined joint activity in recent history.” Drills included amphibious operations, live-fire components and noncombatant evacuation scenarios across both countries, demonstrating the scale and ambition possible under the enhanced relationship.
As geopolitical dynamics in the Indo-Pacific grow more complex, analysts say the Australia-Indonesia partnership is poised to play an increasingly prominent role in the regional security architecture — one built on interoperability, shared interests and sustained engagement. Canberra and Jakarta also are expanding defense ties with other Allies and Partners such as the United States, with which both nations host major multinational exercises, including Super Garuda Shield in Indonesia and Talisman Sabre in Australia.
Wirra Jaya 2025 emphasized urban operations such as building clearance, and mass evacuation and casualty coordination. The exercise “is expected to produce tactical training modules, urban operation checklists and repeatable test scenarios for advanced training,” which will shape operational planning, Sukadis said.
Australia’s Regional Force Surveillance Group conducted a demonstration on refining joint border monitoring, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. The session included “ISR coverage maps, early detection protocols [and] response patrol models,” which have applications in regional maritime and territorial surveillance, Sukadis said.
The exercise also addressed nontraditional threats of increasing importance in the Indo-Pacific, such as disaster response, cyber defense and countering manipulated information. “The expected outcome is the creation of a robust inter-institutional cooperation mechanism, increased awareness of multidimensional threats, and the design of joint procedures that can be applied in humanitarian assistance and regional cybersecurity operations,” Sukadis said.
Those themes were mirrored in Exercise Bhakti Kanyini in Indonesia in October 2025, which brought together military and civilian disaster response agencies from both nations, along with partners such as Timor-Leste and the U.S. The drills reinforced the shift toward whole-of-government and multinational approaches to regional crisis response.
Engagements such as Wirra Jaya illustrate the expanding institutional and operational ties between Australia and Indonesia. “This trust is the main foundation for building regional stability and strengthening regional security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific,” Sukadis said.