Airspace violations in Indonesia by foreign aircraft continue to rise

JAKARTA, Indonesia

Marshal Fadjar Prasetyo, chief of staff of the Indonesian Air Force (KSAU), revealed that violations by foreign military aircraft in Indonesian airspace have increased over the past year.

He said the violation was committed by foreign military aircraft in former Military Training Area (MTA) 2 located north of Bintan Island.

"Their activities have increased significantly, especially related to the escalation of the South China Sea dispute," Prasetyo explained during a seminar on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Commander of the National Air Defense Command, Novyan Samyoga, noted that there were 498 violations since the beginning of this year.

"As of May 17, there were around 498 violations, so we estimated the number has increased to 600 today," he added.

Samyoga admitted that several issues had hindered the National Air Defense Command from taking action against these violations, mainly due to limited wain weapons system equipment and the vast airspace of the country.

In addition, the absence of legal regulations related to airspace management has become one of their concerns.