Russian Air Base in Indonesia?

[Warrigal]

I hope I'm not out of line here given that I have never served in the military.

I'm interested in the responses of actual veterans to recent news that Russia was seeking approval from the newish President of Indonesia to establish an air base just two hours flying time from Darwin.

The Indonesians have denied this report but, never the less, it is worrisome not just for Australia but also for US given the closeness to Guam

Read here and comment if you care to.

Why on earth would Russia want a military base in Indonesia?

 

[Aunt Bea]

It’s interesting how our views change if we substitute the names of different countries that could be involved.

it’s sad that we all can’t be content to live in a world where we don’t feel threatened or have the need to protect ourselves from our neighbors.

 

[oldman]

I read that Russia hasn’t stated they don’t plan to make Indonesia as an base for military aircraft, but who knows? Russia has lied before, so it may be possible they will do otherwise.

The U.S. Marines also operates in the Northern region of Australia. The following article may shed some light on Russia’s reason for wanting to set up a base in Indonesia:

“Russia’s long-range aviation assets, notably the venerable Tu-95, which is used for reconnaissance as well as strategic bombing, can easily travel over 10,000 kilometres.

From a base in Indonesia, this would give the Russian air force the ability to conduct ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) missions during Australian military exercises, gather data on military installations in the Northern Territory (which also host US Marines), and even conduct surveillance on US military activities in Guam.”

 

[Ted01]

Also, didn't the US just transfer bombers to Guam?
I'd think that they'd be very interested in keeping an eye on that...

 

[fuzzybuddy]

I have absolutely no idea about Russian bases in Indonesia. My opinion is that if there's a shooting war between US/EU/OZ. and Russia/China; nobody is going to waste time getting a crew in a plane to fly to a target. I think they are going to let their missiles do the destruction.