Prabowo Wants More Drones to Tackle Forest and Land Fires: We Must Prepare Our Mitigation

President Prabowo Subianto has said he will allocate more aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) for mitigation and prevention of forest and land fires, known as karhutla, across Indonesia.

President Prabowo stated that the government’s response to this year’s forest and land fires had been substantial, although there were notes of delays on several occasions.

“Going forward, we are taking anticipatory steps. I ask that our thinking in planning applies the principle of better too much than too little,” said Prabowo during a limited meeting at the Merdeka Palace in Central Jakarta on Monday, 7 September 2026.

Prabowo asked Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi to inform Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa and Minister of National Development Planning (PPN)/Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Rachmat Pambudy to increase defence and security equipment, such as helicopters, firefighting equipment like water pumps, and supporting equipment such as excavators to support prevention and suppression efforts.

In particular, small-scale prevention and firefighting equipment could be stationed in villages located in areas with a history of recurring forest and land fires.

The Head of State noted that Indonesia would soon have its first aircraft carrier, which would be used for disaster relief.

The carrier is capable of carrying ten medium-sized helicopters, which could be used to transport 4–5 tonnes of water for handling forest and land fires.

“Then we must allocate more aircraft for weather modification. BRIN must then study which substances are most efficient for accelerating weather modification, and afterwards we must procure drones that can drop water,” said the President.

Prabowo referred to drones capable of carrying large quantities of water that could be positioned on the front line in forest and land fire response efforts.

“So, our preparations to handle and mitigate this must not wait for incidents to occur; we prepare them well in advance,” said Prabowo Subianto.