Australian and Indonesian Hercules Unite for Exercise RAJAWALI AUSINDO

Indone­sian and Aus­tralian Air Force per­son­nel will par­tic­i­pate in Exer­cise RAJAWALI AUSINDO at RAAF Base Dar­win from 1 to 6 Decem­ber 2011.

Exer­cise RAJAWALI AUSINDO will involve C‑130 Her­cules trans­port air­craft and crews from both coun­tries under­tak­ing car­go air­drop missions. 

Com­man­der Air Lift Group, Air Com­modore Gary Mar­tin, said Indone­sia and Aus­tralia ben­e­fit from par­tic­i­pa­tion in such exercises. 

“Exer­cise RAJAWALI AUSINDO is an impor­tant exer­cise for fos­ter­ing the rela­tion­ship between Aus­tralian and Indone­sian Air Force per­son­nel,” Air Com­modore Mar­tin said. 

“These strong ties are evi­dent when both coun­tries work togeth­er in air­lift mis­sions, such as dur­ing human­i­tar­i­an assis­tance and dis­as­ter relief operations. 

“This was high­light­ed dur­ing Oper­a­tion PADANG ASSIST in South Suma­tra in 2009, and Oper­a­tion Suma­tra Assist I & II in 2004–2005.

“It is also an oppor­tu­ni­ty for Air Forces to gain a bet­ter under­stand­ing of each other’s capa­bil­i­ty, safe­ty prac­tices, and meth­ods of operation. 

“Air lift is a crit­i­cal capa­bil­i­ty with­in this region, as the respec­tive expe­ri­ences of Indone­sia and Aus­tralia demonstrate. 

“Both of our Air Forces are versed in fly­ing to remote run­ways with vital loads, whether they are across the Indone­sian arch­i­pel­ago or to remote Aus­tralian airfields.” 

The C‑130 Her­cules is pow­ered for by four tur­bo­prop engines, and has a car­go bay that can accom­mo­date up to 20 tonnes in pay­load or more than 90 pas­sen­gers. Australia’s C‑130 will be drawn from No. 37 Squadron at RAAF Base Rich­mond, west of Syd­ney, while Indonesia’s C‑130 will be from No. 31 Squadron at Hal­im Per­danakusuma Air Base in Jakarta. 

“The C‑130 forms an impor­tant part of both our respec­tive defence forces, for its abil­i­ty to car­ry use­ful loads of car­go in to short, semi- pre­pared airstrips and deliv­er that car­go with the min­i­mum of sup­port infra­struc­ture,” Air Com­modore Mar­tin said. 

“Aus­tralia has flown dif­fer­ent mod­els of the C‑130 since 1958, and Indone­sia since 1960, so between our two coun­tries there is a great body of experience.” 

Prime Min­is­ter Gillard announced recent­ly that Aus­tralia has offered to gift up to four sur­plus C‑130H air­craft to Indonesia. 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

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