Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto has ordered the use of the upcoming ex-Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi in forest firefighting, as haze chokes the Southeast Asian region.

Prabowo floated the idea when he virtually gathered his officials for a disaster management meeting on Monday, as the country grappled with months of wildfires, haze, and now Mount Anak Krakatau’s volcanic ash.

“Praise be to God. An Italian aircraft carrier will soon join our Navy’s fleet,” Prabowo told the live-broadcast meeting, alluding to the Garibaldi.

The ship, which Jakarta received as an Italian government grant, is now en route to Indonesia. Its arrival is slated for September 19.

Prabowo wants the ageing carrier to be a mobile hub for the helicopters set to drop large volumes of water onto the hotspots.

“We will refurbish the ship into a carrier specialized for helicopters and drones. It should be able to carry 10 medium helicopters like the Black Hawks and Mil Mi-17s. They can carry between 4 and 5 tons of water on average,” Prabowo said.

The Mil Mi-17 is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter. In 2023, Indonesia inked a deal to buy 24 units of the US-made Sikorsky S-70M Black Hawk.

The retired army general instructed his government to take action before the disaster strikes. 

“More helicopters, the better … so we are ready before the [blaze] happens. We should deploy more aircraft for weather modification,” Prabowo remarked.

Rome has decided to give the Garibaldi to avoid the hefty price tag of scrapping the ship. 

Indonesia has been in the throes of intense forest fires since early August, causing haze to blanket Malaysia, Singapore, and even the Philippines. Malaysia has just lifted the haze emergency in Sarawak, but remains cautious of the severe air pollution. 

According to Foreign Ministry spokesman Vahd Nabyl A Mulachela, Indonesia has regularly kept its fellow ASEAN members posted about its hotspots and the situation on the ground.

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