New Hercules Indonesian Air Force Ready To Transport Aid For Palestinian People

TNI officials and Indonesian Air Force soldiers took a group photo together in front of the latest TNI AU C-130 J Super Hercules transport plane on the apron of Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base, Jakarta, Tuesday (26/3/2024). BETWEEN/HO-TNI Information Center.

JAKARTA - The latest transport aircraft by the Indonesian Air Force, namely one unit of C-130 J Super Hercules, is ready to transport aid from the Indonesian people to the Palestinian people in Gaza.

The aid was later transported from Jakarta to Jordan, then from Jordan, the aid was further taken to Gaza's airspace and deployed using a parachute (airdrop).

Head of the Indonesian Armed Forces Information Center (Kapuspen) Maj. Gen. Nugraha Gumilar conveyed that the TNI, although it is ready to carry out the humanitarian mission, is currently still waiting for the departure schedule set by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemlu).

Apart from that, the Indonesian Air Force has prepared a unit of C-130 J Super Hercules and 10 Indonesian Air Force soldiers to leave for Jordan. The troops were led by Commander Wing (Danwing) 1 Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base (Lanud) Colonel Pnb Noto Casnoto.

Assistant Operations (Asops) of the TNI Commander Major General TNI Gabriel Lema also directly examined the readiness of the troops during an apple at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base apron, Jakarta, Tuesday (26/3).

In his remarks while reviewing the readiness of the troops, Gabriel said that the delivery of aid was a form of the TNI's swift action that reflected the vision of PRIMA TNI Commander General Agus Subiyanto. PRIMA stands for professional, responsive, integrative, modern, and adaptive.

The plan is for Indonesia to send assistance for the air umbrella (PUO) and an air umbrella for goods (PUB), totaling 900 packages. The aid delivery mission is planned to last for 10 days, involving 27 Indonesian Air Force soldiers. The Indonesian Air Force transport aircraft involved in the mission will then take the Halim Perdanakusuma (Jakarta)-Aceh-Myanmar-India-Uni Emirate Arab (UAE)-Yordania route, and then return with the same route until Jakarta.

In the apple, the Assistant Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces reviewed the readiness of troops along with several TNI officials, including the Chief of Staff of the National Air Operations Command (Kaskoopsudnas), Young TNI Marshal Donald Kasenda and Air Operations Command Commander (Pangkoopsud) I Young Marshal Muhammad Nurdin.

The plan to send aid via air (airdrop) has been explored since at least early March 2024. Indonesian President Joko Widodo while inspecting the Iswahjudi Air Force Base, Magetan, East Java, at that time saw a demonstration of the ability of Indonesian Air Force soldiers to deploy logistics (CDS) from a height to the target point of Lanud Iswahjudi.

During the demonstration, the Indonesian Air Force demonstrated its defense equipment capabilities, including six C-130 Super Hercules transport aircraft from the 31st Air Squadron, 32rd Air Squadron, and 33rd Air Squadron, then one CN 295 aircraft with tail number A-2902 from Air Squadron 2, and two Cassa aircraft from Air Squadron 4 each with tail numbers A-2116 and A-2117.

Then, there were also Cassa 212 aircraft from the Indonesian Navy and MI-17 and Bell 412 helicopters from the Indonesian Army.

A few weeks after the CDS demonstration, the Indonesian Air Force continued to hold a preliminary training on goods taking (CDS) at Suryadarma Air Base, Kalijati, Subang, West Java, on March 18, 2024. The exercise involved the latest TNI AU C-130 J Super Hercules transport aircraft from Air Squadron 31 Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base and aircraft from Air Squadron 32 Abdulrachman Saleh Air Base. The training activity was witnessed by Pangkoopsudnas Marshal Madya TNI Tedi Rizalihadi.