Giving blanket access to US military aircraft through Indonesian airspace, as proposed in a classified US defence document reported by international media this week, risks compromising the country’s sovereignty and national security. Indonesia should not agree to such a proposal.
The Indonesian Ministry of Defense said on 13 April that the proposed agreement was still under discussion. A day earlier, The Sunday Guardian had reported that the deal would allow US aircraft to access Indonesian airspace for ‘contingency operations, crisis response purposes, and mutually agreed exercise-related activities’. It would allow US aircraft to ‘transit directly upon notification until subsequent notification of deactivation by the United States’.
This seems to be intended to solve an obvious strategic problem for the US as it increasingly relies on bases in northern Australia that are more distant from China and therefore safer than those close to Taiwan. The problem is that power projected northwards from Australia would pass through Indonesia.
The newly reported arrangement appears to have reached the stage of in-principle agreement between heads of state when President Prabowo Subianto met US President Donald Trump in Washington in February. ‘During this visit, he [Probowo] approved a proposal to authorise blanket overflight clearance for U.S. aircraft through Indonesian airspace in a bilateral meeting with Trump, according to details contained in a classified US document,’ the Sunday Guardian said.
This news coincides with Indonesian Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsudin’s visit to the Pentagon this week to meet his US counterpart, Peter Hegseth, and sign the two countries’ Major Defense Cooperation Partnership. This agreement focuses on military modernisation and capacity building, training and professional military education, and exercises and operational cooperation.
Indonesia has full sovereignty of its airspace under the Chicago Convention, as well as the airspace above its archipelagic waters under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Article 49. This means it has the full authority to decide whether a foreign military aircraft can enter any of its airspace, except above the archipelagic sea lanes.
By giving blanket access to US military aircraft, Indonesia would be ceding this basic element of sovereignty. Some may argue that the decision to give access is itself an exercise in sovereignty. But since Indonesia has no formal alliance with the US, the country is free to uphold an independent foreign policy, so the concession would make little sense.
Indeed, Indonesia’s parliament passed an airspace management law last year that states that foreign aircraft on unscheduled flights require authorisation to enter the country’s airspace. The regulation categorises Indonesian airspace into restricted, limited or dangerous areas, and requires case-by-case authorisation to ensure that foreign aircraft does not threaten national security or safety in the airspace.
In contrast, the proposed agreement requires only notification of US military aircraft passing through Indonesian airspace. This gives Indonesia less authority to ensure airspace security.
Even more concerning is the possible use of Indonesian airspace for ‘crisis response purposes’, presumably meaning response to a conflict breaking out in the region. This poses a serious danger to Indonesia’s national security. In adherence to its independent foreign policy, Indonesia should maintain neutrality over its airspace and authorise access on a case-by-case basis in the event of a regional conflict.
Indonesia must look to the policies of European countries that have been denying airspace access to the US for attacks on Iran. Spain, for example, is refusing to authorise use of its airspace for a military action which does not align with its interests and which it considers a violation of international law. By allowing blanket overflight access, Indonesia would be giving up the right to decide who and under what conditions a foreign military aircraft can use its airspace.
It is unclear whether the proposed agreement signals a change in Indonesia’s defence and foreign policy strategies towards the US, but other recent events indicate a shift. A White House statement published in February on the ‘US-Indonesian alliance’ marked the first time an official document referred to Indonesia as an ally of the US. An Agreement on Reciprocal Trade signed in the same month has been criticised as giving the US too much control over Indonesia’s trade policy.
Before the agreement is finalised, if it ever is finalised, it should be clearly understood that giving the US blanket overflight access would violate Indonesia’s national security and domestic laws. Indonesia should instead maintain sovereignty over its airspace and protect its security and safety.