Prabowo Highlights Geopolitical Uncertainty: Defence is Our Guarantee of Sovereignty

President Prabowo Subianto has spoken on the importance of increasing national defence strength, asserting that there are no interests other than maintaining the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia. “We must continue to enhance our defence strength as a deterrent. We have no interests other than protecting our own territory,” said Prabowo at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base, Jakarta, on Monday (18/5/2026).

Prabowo emphasised that defence is a primary requirement for achieving national stability, particularly amidst increasingly volatile geopolitical conditions. “But we see the state of the world; geopolitics is full of uncertainty, and we know that defence is the primary condition for stability, the guarantee that we can remain sovereign,” he stated.

Consequently, Prabowo is committed to continuously building and strengthening defence capabilities in the future, solely to secure Indonesia’s sovereign territory. “I believe that is the essence; in the future, we will continue to build our strength. We want to secure our airspace, our maritime territory, and certainly our land territory,” he continued.

It is noted that Prabowo has recently handed over several defence assets, including 6 Rafale fighter jets, 4 Falcon 8X aircraft, and 1 Airbus A400M Atlas MRTT. The handover ceremony took place at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base on Monday (18/6/2026) at 10:00 WIB.

In addition to the aircraft, the handover included GCI GM403 Radar weaponry, as well as Meteor Air-to-Air Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles and AASM Hammer Smart Weapons, which are components of the Rafale fleet. Following the handover of the keys, Prabowo inspected several of the defence assets on-site, beginning with the Rafale cockpit, the Hammer smart weapon, and the Meteor missile, before proceeding to inspect the GCI GM403 Radar.