Hello and welcome to the details of US, Indonesia upgrade ties with ‘major’ defence partnership, says Hegseth and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (left) and Indonesian Minister of Defence Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin pose for photographs with US Air Force Major General Kelly McKeague and Indonesian Major General Agus Widodo (right) after signing a memorandum of understanding at the Pentagon on April 13, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. — Getty Images pic via AFP
WASHINGTON, April 14 — US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Monday a “major” defence partnership with Indonesia following a meeting with the Southeast Asian nation’s defence minister at the Pentagon.
“We are elevating our relationship to a Major Defense Cooperation Partnership, in recognition of the strength and potential of our bilateral defense ties,” Hegseth said in a statement on X.
The partnership covers “military modernization and capacity building,” “training and professional military education” and “exercises and operational cooperation,” according to a joint statement.
“Both nations reaffirm their shared commitment to maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” the statement said.
Jakarta said the partnership was an “opportunity to reinforce national defense capacity,” but insisted that “free and active foreign policy, national interests, and full respect for state sovereignty” would be maintained.
It said that a US proposal to grant American military aircraft access over Indonesian airspace was being “carefully reviewed”.
“It still requires further discussion through technical mechanisms and applicable national procedures,” the Indonesian Ministry of Defense statement added.
Indonesia has the strongest military in South-east Asia, according to the Global Firepower defence analysis site.
While Jakarta says it maintains a non-aligned diplomatic posture, last year it joined the BRICS bloc of emerging economies that includes Russia and China.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto met with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday for oil talks.
But Prabowo has also signed a trade deal with US President Donald Trump and joined his so-called “Board of Peace”.
The country is strategically located on the Malacca Strait — the world’s busiest chokepoint for oil and petroleum liquids, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). — AFP
These were the details of the news US, Indonesia upgrade ties with ‘major’ defence partnership, says Hegseth for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.
It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Malay Mail and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.
