Defence Minister Reveals Contents of Talks with US Defence Secretary

Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin explained the contents of his meeting with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon, on 13 April 2026. One topic discussed was cross-border airspace overflight. In front of lawmakers from Commission I of the Indonesian House of Representatives, the minister said that if Hegseth spoke one-on-one, the question concerned whether US soldiers could fly over Indonesian airspace. “He said, is it permissible for us to cross Indonesian airspace if we want to cross for certain purposes?” Sjafrie paraphrased Hegseth’s words on Tuesday, 19 May 2026. In the discussion, he added that the Pentagon would continue to comply with the rules in Indonesia should permission to overfly be granted. At that time, Sjafrie said that although there was some hope, Hegseth’s request must still be reported first to Prabowo Subianto, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, “Because he is the Supreme Commander of the TNI. Then he (Hegseth) replied, oh, okay.” He also noted that Hegseth’s request to him had already been conveyed the previous year, at the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus, one of which was attended by the United States. “So, I was present. I did not know the United States Defence Secretary. Why? Because he is too global; we are regional,” said the former commander of the Jakarta Raya Military Command. Previously, in the meeting between Sjafrie and Hegseth at the Pentagon on 13 April, the announcement was made of the establishment of a Major Defence Cooperation Partnership (MDCP) between the two countries. MDCP is intended as a framework to enhance bilateral defence cooperation, while reaffirming the two countries’ shared commitment to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The issue of US airspace overflight has drawn scrutiny as foreign media reported on mass flight permissions for American military aircraft on Indonesian soil. However, the Ministry of Defence stated that the agreement was still under internal and inter-agency discussion. The so-called blanket overflight clearance document has not yet gained legal binding force, and cannot yet form the basis of official Indonesian government policy, said Brigadier General Rico Sirait, Head of the Defence Information Bureau, Secretariat General of the Ministry of Defence, on 13 April 2026.