Indonesian Navy Confirms US Warship Passage Through Malacca Strait, What Is Its Mission?

The Indonesian Navy has confirmed that a United States warship passed through the Malacca Strait at the weekend, stating that the US warship transiting the Malacca Strait was merely conducting a transit or Transit Passage right.

The US warship is known to have passed through the strait bordering Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore on Saturday, 18 April 2026. The Head of the Indonesian Navy Information Service (Kadispenal), First Admiral TNI Tunggul, added that the transit through this major sea route complies with international law.

“In response to the foreign vessel transiting the Malacca Strait, the right of vessels, including warships, to pass through those waters constitutes a Transit Passage right,” said Tunggul in his official statement.

Tunggul explained that foreign vessels may exercise transit passage rights because the Malacca Strait is one of the international shipping lanes. According to him, this transit right is valid under Articles 37, 38, and 38 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Indonesia itself has ratified UNCLOS through Law No. 17 of 1985 on the ratification of UNCLOS. With this law, Indonesia directly recognises the Malacca Strait as an international shipping lane.

Nevertheless, Tunggul emphasised that all vessels transiting must respect Indonesia as the coastal state. Those vessels are also required to comply with various regulations to prevent ship collisions and marine pollution from fuel.

“As long as the foreign vessel is conducting transit passage, it must not violate the provisions of the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREG) 1972 on preventing collisions at sea and the Marine Pollution (Marpol) convention on preventing pollution from ships,” Tunggul stated.

Cited from Reuters, Commander Matthew Comer of the US Navy, spokesperson for the US military’s Indo-Pacific Command, identified the warship as the USS Miguel Keith, based in Japan, which has been at sea “conducting routine operations in the US 7th Fleet.”

Comer did not provide details on the warship’s destination, citing US Navy policy not to discuss future operations or movements for security reasons, but stated that the vessel had undergone maintenance in South Korea in early April.