Indonesian Air Force

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Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Udara
Armed Forces of Indonesia, Air Force

Indonesian Air Force arms
Lineup April 9, 1946
Country IndonesiaIndonesia Indonesia
Type Armed forces ( air force )
insignia
Aircraft cockade Roundel of Indonesia.svg Roundel of Indonesia - Low Visibility.svg
National emblem ( vertical stabilizer ) Flag of Indonesia.svg

The Indonesian Air Force ( indon . : Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Udara , TNI AU) are part of the armed forces of Indonesia . They were founded in 1946, but military aviation began in what is now Indonesia during the Dutch colonial era. With a staff of 28,000, the TNI AU is the smallest military force in Indonesia.

history

The Indonesian Air Force was founded eight months after the former Dutch East Indies had unilaterally declared itself independent from the Netherlands . The Netherlands initially did not recognize this and a war of independence ensued that lasted until 1949. The TNI AU use some of the machines left behind by the Japanese occupiers, but these were not of decisive importance in the war. The national badge used until 1949 was only the red "sun" painted white in the lower half.

Australian built Saber

The 1950s were characterized by internal operations. Contrary to the independence treaty, which provided for a federal state, Indonesia had quickly become a unitary state. This included the commitment to the unilaterally renounced Christian dominated republic of the South Moluccas as well as against Islamic (Darul Islam) and democratic (Permesta) movements. The latter was secretly supported by the CIA , and in the course of this dispute an Indonesian Mustang managed to shoot down an invader controlled by a CIA pilot .

After Malaysia's independence , the majority of the population of both countries, ethnic Malay, are culturally and linguistically closely related, Indonesia made territorial claims to the young nation and there was a Konfrontasi between 1963 and 1966 . In 1963 there was another brief dispute about Western New Guinea , which was then still administered by the Netherlands, with the former mother country.

In 1974, as a result of the Portuguese Carnation Revolution, the last major European colonial empire was dissolved . As a result, the then Portuguese part of the island of Timor declared itself the independent Republic of Timor-Leste in November 1975 . After the defeat in Vietnam and in view of the establishment of socialist states in the two large African former Portuguese colonies , the USA and Australia did not want to create another socialist state . Just a few days after the declaration of independence, the young republic was invaded, with the TNI AU dropping parachutists over East Timor. As a result, a guerrilla war that lasted for years began . The United States supplied the TNI AU Broncos with close air support aircraft to fight the rebels . It was only more than 15 years later, after the end of the Cold War , that the US changed its attitude towards this conflict.

At the beginning of the 21st century, there were still internal stresses in the Indonesian unitary state, including in Aceh and West Papua , and in the case of Aceh by the Air Force again proven Broncos, but Hawks were used.

organization

The main forces are subordinate to three operational commandos, KOOPSAU I in Jakarta , KOOPSAU II in Makassar and KOOPSAU II in Sorong, one each for the western and eastern parts of the country, most of which are on the main island of Java . KOOPSAU stands for Komando Operasi Angatan Udara .

The TNI AU also includes units without a military mandate, such as the agricultural aviation group Satuan Udara Pertanian (SUP) and the national search and rescue service Satuan Udara Federasi Aerosport Indonesia (FASI).

An overview of the most important bases can be found below.

equipment

Indonesian Su-30

Indonesia has had its own aviation company for many years, IPTN in Bandung , which has produced some types of aircraft for the armed forces under license, and in the case of the CN-235 the company is even involved. The later interim president Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, who was trained in Germany, played an important role in industry . In the following list, the prefix "N" in the type designations indicates the locally manufactured samples.

Planes

As of July 2018

helicopter

bases

Most of the military airfields are on the most populous island of Java, with a few on the other three large islands. The squadrons (squadrons) are called Skadron in Indonesian , Skadron Pendidikan are school squadrons , the rest are operational squadrons .

In the western area of KOOPSAU I you are near the following cities:

  • Atang Senjaya military airfield, Bandung , West Java province, helicopter base with S-58T, NBo105CB, Bell206, H-500, BK-117, AS330 ( Skadron Udara 6 and 8 , BASARNAS )
  • Hang Nadim Airport , Batam , Kepulauan Riau Province , forward base for hawk jets
  • Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Jakarta , Transport Air Base with CN235, B707-3MIC, F27-400M, F28-1000 / 3000, Hercules, AS332 ( Skadron Udara 2 , 17 and 31 )
  • Iswahyudi military airfield, Madiun, East Java province , fighter aircraft base with F-16, F-5, Hawk 53 ( Skadron Udara 3 , 14 and 15 )
  • Sultan Hasanuddin Airport , Makassar , South Celebes Province , fighter aircraft base with Su-27/30, A-4E, TA-4H, TA-4J and B737-2X9 ( Skadron Udara 5 and 11 )
  • Abdul Rachman Saleh Airport, Malang , East Java Province, transport aircraft base with C212, C / KC-130 and Bronco ( Skadron Udara 4 , 32 and 21 )
  • Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport , Pekanbaru , Riau Province , fighter aircraft base with Hawk 109/209 ( Skadron Udara 12 ) and from 2014/2015 also F-16C / D ( Skadron Udara 16 )
  • Supadio Airport, Pontianak , West Kalimantan Province , fighter aircraft base with Hawk 109/209 ( Skadron Udara 1 )
  • Suryadarma Military Airfield, Purwakarta, West Java Province , Bell 47G-3B-1, Bell 204B, EC120, PC-6 ( Skadron 7 and 2 det. , SATUD TANI )
  • Airport Adisucipto, Yogyakarta , Yogyakarta , training base with AS202 / 18A-3, T-41D, T-34, KT-1 ( Skadron Pendidikan 101 and 102 , Jupiter Aerobatic Team )

In the eastern area of KOOPSAU II , the TNI AU operates the following bases:

Incidents

  • On September 3, 1964, a Lockheed C-130B Hercules of the Indonesian Air Force ( aircraft registration number TNI-AU A-1307 ) disappeared in the Karimata Strait . Triggered by the Indonesian attacks on the newly founded Malaysia, there were confrontations, in the course of which the machine was either shot down or hit the water while flying extremely low. All 55 occupants, 8 crew members and 47 passengers were killed.
  • On November 21, 1985, a Lockheed C-130H-MP Hercules of the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU A-1322) flew against the Sibajak volcano ( Sumatra , Indonesia ). All 11 inmates were killed.
  • On October 5, 1991, an engine caught fire on a Lockheed C-130H Hercules of the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU A-1324) shortly after taking off from Jakarta-Halim Airport ( Indonesia ). Apparently control of the plane was lost and it crashed into a training center 3 kilometers south of the airport. Of the 134 occupants, 133 were killed, all 12 crew members and 121 passengers, and 2 people were killed on the ground. This was the fourth worst accident involving a Hercules in terms of the number of fatalities.
  • On 20 May 2009, a Lockheed L-100-30 flew Hercules of the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU A-1325) during the approach to the military airfield Iswahyudi in the city Madiun ( Indonesia ) in four houses caught fire and skidded into a rice field . A total of 99 people were killed, 2 on the ground and 97 of the 112 occupants (14 crew members and 98 passengers).
  • On June 30, 2015, an approximately 50-year-old Lockheed C-130B Hercules of the Indonesian Air Force (A-1310) crashed into a residential area in Medan on the Indonesian island of Sumatra after taking off 4.7 kilometers southwest of the starting airport Polonia . The pilots had reported problems and announced a turnaround. All 113 occupants were killed, 12 crew members and 122 passengers. Numerous houses were also destroyed and another 17 people were killed there. With a total of 139 deaths, this was the third worst accident involving a Hercules, measured by the number of fatalities (see also plane crash in Medan 2015 ) .
  • On December 18, 2016, a C-130H of the Indonesian Air Force (A-1334) flew on the approach to Wamena Airport in hilly terrain 1,700 meters southeast of the runway threshold. This CFIT ( controlled flight into terrain ) in the province of Papua killed all 12 crew members and the only passenger.

literature

  • Jim Walg, Wulf Petermann: Between insurrection and armament - The Indonesian Air Force . In: Fliegerrevue Extra . No. 16 . Möller, Berlin 2007, p. 56-89 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Indonesia inaugurates new airbase on Batam Iceland. Janes, July 10, 2019
  2. ^ Accident report C-130B Hercules TNI-AU A-1307 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 9, 2020.
  3. Accident report C-130H-MP Hercules TNI-AU A-1322 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 9, 2020.
  4. ^ Accident report C-130H Hercules TNI-AU A-1324 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 9, 2020.
  5. Accident report L-100-30 Hercules TNI-AU A-1325 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 9, 2020.
  6. Accident report C-130B TNI-AU A-1310 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 7, 2020.
  7. ^ Accident report C-130H TNI-AU A-1334 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 20, 2016.
  8. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38355451