PUSLATPUR MARINE BASE, Indonesia — This year’s Garuda Shield exercise in Indonesia has included large doses of jungle-training tactics and integrating Stryker operations from two armies.
But it was aviation — particularly four Apache attack helicopters shipped to the remote east end of the nation’s Java Island — that stood out in the monthlong training between U.S. and Indonesian army units.
The exercise culminated with a combined-arms, live-fire assault on imaginary insurgents that included U.S. Apaches, Black Hawks and Strykers operating side-by-side with the Indonesian army’s Russian-made assault helicopters and its own version of Strykers.
Indonesia’s armed forces, known as TNI, next year will receive the first of eight Apaches, the newest Echo version of the aircraft, with the rest expected to be delivered by 2017. Some media have reported that Indonesia’s chief of staff plans to deploy four Apaches to the Natuna Islands in the South China Sea as a hedge against China’s increasingly assertive claims in those waters.
The four Apaches brought here for Garuda Shield are being flown to the city of Surabaya for a massive military parade Oct. 7, which marks the 69th anniversary of the founding of the TNI. The event is somewhat of a last hurrah for outgoing president Prabowo Subianto, a former army general who lost in a close race to Joko Widodo — who has promised to increase defense spending in the country with the world’s largest Muslim population.
Although the Indonesian aviators didn’t get to actually fly the Apaches, they did take the first steps in familiarizing themselves with the aircraft.
“We started out in what we call a crawl-walk-run scenario, where we begin with the academics, something that we would consider as basic as familiarization on a medevac aircraft,” said Lt. Col. Hunter Marshall, commander of the 25th Aviation Regiment. “In terms of talking about the Apache, we’d do a classroom block, walk out to the flight line and get to see the aircraft. Then we’d work through planning, how to do missions together.”
Marshall described the Indonesian flyers as “all highly proficient aviators,” adding that if the TNI chooses its Apache pilots for that pool, “they’d certainly have a great head start.”
During air-assault planning, the Apache and its unique capabilities were always worked into the scenario, Marshall said.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jesse Brenay Sr., one of the Apache pilots who flew in the final live-fire assault, worked side by side with the Indonesian aviators. The Apache’s new technology will require the Indonesian pilots to adjust their tactics and techniques, he said.
“The way they fight will change,” Brenay said. “That’s kind of what we’re demonstrating, trying to train them up.”
The communication systems in the Apache will also better integrate them with their ground forces.
“So we’re teaching air-ground integration very heavily,” he said. “It’s kind of a new concept to them. It’s something we’ve done very well in the past 13 years in Iraq and Afghanistan, so we’re passing on lessons learned.”
Apache integration is “a big reason we’re out here,” Brenay said. “It brings them up in status in this region because their neighbors are starting to upgrade to Apache fleets, and I think they want to keep up. It’s a huge plus for them.”
Japan, South Korea and Singapore are among countries that have purchased Apaches from Boeing.
Brenay described piloting the helicopters in Indonesia as “kind of culture shock to us” because they’ve primarily flown them in the high altitude of Fort Carson, Colo.
“This is really the first time we’ve brought these Echoes down to sea level outside of Hawaii and run them through and see what they can do,” he said. “They’ve been pretty impressive.”
Another Army pilot, Capt. Josh Brown, was enthusiastic about Indonesia buying Apaches, but of greater significance than those aircraft is U.S. and Indonesian forces learning to operate efficiently together, whether that’s in combat or for humanitarian/disaster relief.
The coordination between the two armies, whether in the air or on the ground, demonstrates “how we’re going to do business in the future,” said Lt. Col. Michael Trotter, commander of 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, from Lewis-McChord, which contributed many of the elements at Garuda Shield.
“We are not going to fight another war alone,” Trotter said. “We are going to have to be partnered, whether it’s for a combat operation or when requested by a host-nation government for assistance, whether humanitarian assistance or disaster relief. We can walk away from this exercise feeling very, very confident.”
olson.wyatt@stripes.com Twitter: @WyattWOlson