Every war the Indonesian Air Force has fought
The Indonesian air force fought the Netherlands for independence and for West New Guinea, flew in Indonesia’s confrontation with Malaysia from 1963 to 1966, and has fought a long series of internal campaigns. In East Timor, invaded in 1975 and which the UN Security Council called on Indonesia to leave, the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) found that the military used napalm and chemical agents in 1977–1979 and put conflict-related deaths at a minimum of 102,800; Indonesia acknowledged state responsibility only for 1999, through the joint Commission of Truth and Friendship in 2008. In Papua, which Indonesia regards as an internal security matter and where the Free Papua Movement seeks independence, foreign access is restricted, which limits independent verification of air operations. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the war of independence in 1945 to Papua today.
| Conflict | Years | Against | Main aircraft | Sorties | Aircraft lost | |
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| Indonesian National Revolutionthe war of independenceTKR aviation branch, then AURI | 1945–1949 | Netherlands | Yokosuka K5Y, Other ex-Japanese aircraft, Douglas C-47 | — | — | |
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Flew captured Japanese trainers on raids and transport flights and made the first airborne drop. The republic’s air arm was a handful of Japanese aircraft at Maguwo and other fields. On 29 July 1947, during the first Dutch ‘police action’, three surviving aircraft bombed Dutch positions at Semarang, Salatiga and Ambarawa before dawn, according to the air force’s own account as summarised by Wikipedia. That evening two Dutch P-40s shot down a Dakota near Yogyakarta that was carrying medicine from the Malayan Red Cross; Indonesian accounts stress that permission for the flight had been sought. On 17 October 1947 a C-47 dropped 14 men led by Tjilik Riwut in southern Kalimantan, which the service counts as its first airborne operation and the origin of its ground corps. Outcome The Netherlands recognised Indonesian sovereignty in December 1949. Details of the raids come from Indonesian accounts; a Dutch official statement on the Dakota was not found in the sources consulted.
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| PRRI and Permesta rebellionsthe 1958 regional rebellionsAURI | 1958–1961 | PRRI and Permesta (AUREV) | P-51D Mustang, B-25 Mitchell | — | — | |
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Fought the rebels’ air arm (AUREV) and supported landings. The rebels flew B-26 Invaders supplied through the CIA, some with American crews. On 18 May 1958 Allen Pope attacked the government fleet at Ambon; his B-26 was hit by a P-51 flown by Ignatius Dewanto and by naval anti-aircraft fire, and he was captured. A court in 1960 sentenced him to death for the deaths of 17 servicemen and six civilians; the US ambassador called him a paid soldier of fortune. Sukarno released him in 1962 after Robert Kennedy’s intervention. Outcome The rebellions were suppressed; the American pilot Allen Pope was released on 2 July 1962. Credit for the shoot-down is shared between the P-51 and ship fire in the sources.
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| Operation TrikoraWest New GuineaAURI | 1961–1962 | Netherlands | MiG-17F/PF, Il-28, Tu-16and 4 more | — | — | |
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Massed fighters and bombers in the Moluccas and dropped troops into Dutch-held territory. For the West New Guinea campaign the air force concentrated some 40 MiG-17s at Morotai, Amahai and Letfuan, 18 Il-28s at Amahai, B-25s and A-26s at Letfuan, P-51s at Laha and Tu-16s of the 41st and 42nd Squadrons at Iswahjudi, six of which moved to Morotai. The Netherlands had 24 Hunters and 11 Neptunes. The fighting was small in scale: C-47s and C-130s dropped paratroops at Fakfak, Kaimana, Merauke, Sorong and elsewhere, and the aim was pressure rather than conquest. Outcome Western New Guinea passed to UN and then Indonesian administration under the New York Agreement of 15 August 1962; the planned assault on Biak (Operation Jayawijaya) was cancelled. Deployment numbers come from Wikipedia’s air force article and could not be checked against an official order of battle.
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| Indonesia–Malaysia confrontationKonfrontasiAURI | 1963–1966 | Malaysia, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand | Tu-16, C-130B, MiG-17and 1 more | — | 1 | |
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Intimidation flights, paradrops and support of cross-border raids. On the night of 2 September 1964 three C-130s flew low from Jakarta; two dropped 96 paratroopers near Labis in Johor, and the third crashed into the Strait of Malacca. Commonwealth fighters at Tengah and Butterworth held air superiority but did not bomb Indonesia. Tu-16s flew intimidation and leaflet missions, and Wikipedia’s Tu-16 article, citing Indonesian sources, records that a Tu-16 bombed Tawau in Sabah on 7 December 1963. Outcome Ended with the Bangkok agreement of 11 August 1966 after the change of government in Jakarta. The Tawau bombing and the cause of the C-130 loss are single-source claims; Indonesian death figures vary widely.
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| Counter-insurgency in West KalimantanPGRS/ParakuAURI | 1967–1970s | PGRS/Paraku | Mi-4, Bell 204B, UH-34D | — | — | |
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Helicopter insertion, supply and evacuation against communist guerrillas. After Konfrontasi ended, Indonesia and Malaysia turned on the communist guerrillas they had once backed. Air Squadrons 6 and 7 flew helicopters for troop insertion, logistics, evacuation and reconnaissance, according to Wikipedia. Outcome The insurgency faded in the 1970s. Detail from a single secondary source.
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| East TimorOperation Seroja and the occupationIndonesian Air Force | 1975–1999 | Fretilin / Falintil | C-130, C-47, OV-10Fand 2 more | — | — | |
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Airborne assault on Dili, then transport, reconnaissance and ground attack in the occupation; covered the 1999 withdrawal. The UN Security Council called on Indonesia to withdraw on 22 December 1975 (Resolution 384). The air force opened the invasion with a parachute assault on Dili. Thirteen OV-10 Broncos acquired from the US in 1977 were flying over East Timor that year; the CAVR, drawing on over 8,000 witnesses and Indonesian military papers, found that napalm and chemical agents were used in the encirclement campaign of 1977–1979, when famine killed tens of thousands. A-4s operated from Baucau in 1985–1986. In 1999 Hawks covered the withdrawal from Kupang and twice intercepted Australian aircraft. The joint Indonesia–Timor-Leste Commission of Truth and Friendship (2008) found crimes against humanity in 1999 and institutional responsibility of the TNI, police, civil government and militias; President Yudhoyono accepted it. Outcome East Timor voted for independence in the UN-organised referendum of 30 August 1999 and became Timor-Leste in 2002. Every figure here is attributed. The CAVR findings concern the Indonesian military as a whole and do not isolate air force actions; Indonesia never accepted the CAVR’s wider findings for 1975–1998 in the way it accepted the joint commission’s findings for 1999.
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| Insurgency in AcehAcehIndonesian Air Force | 1976–2005 | Free Aceh Movement (GAM) | OV-10F, Hawk 53, Hawk 209and 1 more | — | — | |
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Counter-insurgency strikes, reconnaissance and transport, above all after the military emergency of May 2003. The government declared a military emergency in Aceh in May 2003 and said it intended to destroy GAM; Wikipedia records OV-10Fs and Hawks flying counter-insurgency missions. The December 2004 tsunami changed the politics, and the Helsinki agreement gave Aceh special autonomy. Outcome Ended by the Helsinki memorandum of 15 August 2005. Specific air strikes and their casualties were not documented in the sources consulted. |
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| Papua conflictPapuaIndonesian Air Force | 1962–present | Free Papua Movement (OPM/TPNPB) | C-130, CN235, Helicopters | — | — | |
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Transport, helicopter support, reconnaissance and the Kopasgat ground corps. Indonesia regards Papua as an integral part of the country and the conflict as an internal security matter; the Free Papua Movement seeks independence. Wikipedia lists Kopasgat among Indonesian units engaged and notes that Indonesia restricts foreign access to the region, which limits independent verification of military operations, including any use of air power. Outcome Ongoing. Claims about specific air operations were not corroborated and are omitted. |
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| Operation TinombalaPoso manhuntIndonesian Air Force | 2016 | East Indonesia Mujahideen | Aerostar tactical UAV | — | 0 | |
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Drone reconnaissance for the hunt for the East Indonesia Mujahideen. Squadron 51 flew Aerostar drones to give the police and army aerial reconnaissance of the Poso mountains, one of the air force’s first operational uses of unmanned aircraft. Outcome Santoso (Abu Wardah), the group’s leader, was killed in July 2016. Single secondary source.
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Nothing matches that search.
Every figure, checked
- AJAR: Chega+10 (CAVR report portal)Portal for the Chega! report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation; notes famine deaths of the late 1970s.
Figures verified 2026-09-30. Back to the Indonesian Air Force.