Indonesia Hosts Largest US-Led Combat Drill in Southeast Asia with Multinational Participation.

On August 25, 2025, Indonesia inaugurated the Super Garuda Shield 2025 exercises, the largest multinational military drills ever held in the country, as reported by AP News. For 11 days, until September 4, more than 6,500 troops from 13 nations will conduct synchronized training operations across Jakarta, Sumatra, and the Riau archipelago. The event, which started as a bilateral initiative between Indonesia and the United States in 2007, has steadily grown into a key regional defense platform, highlighting its rising importance in a tense Indo-Pacific environment marked by competition for influence and maritime security disputes.
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The 2025 edition of Super Garuda Shield consolidates its place as a premier multinational exercise in Southeast Asia, combining combat training, interoperability building, and strategic signaling  (Picture source: Japanese MoD)

Super Garuda Shield now represents more than just joint maneuvers: it is a symbol of multilateral defense cooperation in Southeast Asia. Participants this year include forces from the United States, Australia, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Brazil, and South Korea, alongside the host nation, Indonesia. According to Indonesian Deputy Commander Tandyo Budi Revita, the exercise reflects the determination of partner nations to “respond to every challenge quickly and precisely,” while Admiral Samuel J. Paparo, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, stressed that the drills embody the collective will to deter any attempt to alter the regional balance by force.

The operational design of the 2025 edition underscores this ambition. Training modules include combined arms live-fire exercises, amphibious assaults, airborne operations, HIMARS rapid deployment, and jungle warfare scenarios. In addition to conventional maneuvers, participating forces will also engage in cyber defense, staff planning, and medical operations under simulated battlefield conditions. The inclusion of civic action projects, engineering efforts, and cultural exchanges highlights a dual objective: preparing for potential combat while building enduring trust among participants and host communities.

Strategically, the drills send a clear signal in a region where China’s military assertiveness has raised concerns among U.S. allies. Despite Washington’s repeated statements that Super Garuda Shield is not aimed at Beijing, the expansion of the exercise since 2022 reflects a growing consensus among like-minded nations about the need for interoperability in the event of a crisis. With increased Chinese coastguard and militia presence in the South China Sea, these exercises prepare regional militaries to operate jointly across domains, reinforcing deterrence and ensuring freedom of navigation. The message is that a coalition of states, from Asia-Pacific powers to transatlantic allies, is willing and able to coordinate defense efforts in response to aggression.

For Indonesia, hosting Super Garuda Shield represents both an opportunity and a balancing act. Jakarta maintains significant economic ties with Beijing and continues to avoid direct confrontation with China, while at the same time purchasing U.S. and French arms and deepening defense cooperation with Western partners. This dual-track approach reflects Indonesia’s long-standing non-aligned policy: by engaging broadly with multiple partners, Jakarta strengthens its own defense posture without formally aligning with any single bloc. Analysts see this flexibility as one of Indonesia’s greatest assets in navigating the Indo-Pacific’s increasingly contested security landscape.

The 2025 edition of Super Garuda Shield consolidates its place as a premier multinational exercise in Southeast Asia, combining combat training, interoperability building, and strategic signaling. By bringing together 13 nations and more than 6,500 troops, the exercise underscores the importance of military partnerships in a region where maritime disputes, great power rivalry, and security flashpoints remain unresolved. Far beyond tactical training, it represents preparation for collective response, showing that if tensions escalate, allied forces in the Indo-Pacific can rely on shared procedures, mutual trust, and the political will to act together.