Former Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi departs for Indonesia after final flag lowering.

On August 24, 2026, the former Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi (C 551) departed Taranto under a mixed Italian-Indonesian crew bound for Indonesia, where it is scheduled to be commissioned as KRI Gajah Mada on September 25. Italy transferred the retired 14,150-tonne STOVL vessel free of charge to eliminate a €5 million annual inactive maintenance liability and an estimated €18.7 million dismantlement bill. Jakarta accepted the transfer to establish its first carrier-based command and aviation capability, budgeting between €350 million and €818 million for reactivation, structural refit, and technical modernization.

The zero-cost transfer agreement shifts long-term operational responsibility to Indonesia, which faces minimum refit and delivery costs of €404 million and potential maximum modernization expenditures exceeding €872 million. Built in 1985 and featuring a 174-meter ski-jump flight deck, the platform requires extensive electrical, sensor, and combat system upgrades alongside base expansion at Ratai Bay to support planned multi-service helicopter and potential Bayraktar TB3 drone operations.

Related topic: Italy approves free transfer of Garibaldi aircraft carrier to Indonesia after final parliamentary vote

Commissioned on September 30, 1985, the Giuseppe Garibaldi served the Italian Navy for 39 years, operating as a carrier and command ship in Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Libya. (Picture source: Italian Navy archives)

As reported by the Cronache Tarantine on August 24, 2026, the former Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi (C 551) departed Taranto for Indonesia after the Italian flag was lowered for the last time, beginning a transit of more than 20 days through the Suez Canal and Red Sea before an expected arrival between September 15 and 20 and an Indonesian commissioning ceremony on September 25. The ship remains Italian during the delivery voyage, retains the Giuseppe Garibaldi name, and is sailing with a mixed Italian-Indonesian crew, and Italian frigates are expected to escort it during portions of the passage. Indonesia is receiving the aircraft carrier free of charge from Italy, but the transfer itself is expected to cost Jakarta about €54 million, while the subsequent refurbishment has been estimated at Rp7.2 trillion to Rp16.8 trillion (€350 million to €818 million) depending on the final package.

That puts the minimum transfer-plus-refit cost at about €404 million, and the maximum at about €872 million before recurring operating expenditure, aviation procurement, ammunition, spare parts, additional training and long-term maintenance are included. The Indonesian Navy has already sent 100 prospective crew members to Italy for theoretical and practical instruction, compared with an expected basic ship complement of about 500 personnel, while Ratai Bay in Lampung is being prepared as a principal operating base. The base work includes dredging and channel deepening, heavy-duty mooring facilities and increased electrical capacity, with the berthing area 76% complete in July 2026 and the project entering its finishing phase by August 25. 

The economics explain why Italy was willing to transfer the ship without compensation rather than converting it into a museum and why the Indonesian side faces a much more complicated cost equation. Italy's authorization process began with a ministerial decree on February 19, 2026, followed by Senate approval on March 24, Budget Committee approval on April 14, and final parliamentary authorization on April 28 under Article 311 of the Italian military code. The mechanism permits military equipment declared technically obsolete and no longer operational to be transferred free of charge under specified legal conditions. The Garibaldi still had an Italian residual accounting value of €54,022,426.67, but keeping it inactive cost about €5 million each year for electrical power, security, surveillance, and minimum technical upkeep.

Dismantlement was estimated at €18.7 million and would have required at least 24 months, meaning that four years of inactive maintenance alone would have exceeded the nominal dismantlement cost. Italy therefore avoids both a recurring €5 million annual liability and a future scrapping bill, while Indonesia assumes the cost of delivery and reactivation. The Indonesian calculation is materially larger than the residual hull value: a €350 million lower-end refurbishment is 6.5 times the €54.0 million accounting value, while an €818 million upper-end package is 15.1 times greater. The €468 million difference between the low and high modernization estimates by itself equals 8.7 times the ship's Italian residual value.

Indonesia had already approved foreign loan ceilings in August 2025 of up to $450 million for the carrier and associated equipment, $250 million for transport helicopters, and $300 million for utility helicopters, potentially creating a $1 billion financing framework. Even this figure does not represent the full lifecycle bill because a carrier program must finance fuel, depot-level maintenance, aviation spares, deck equipment, shore infrastructure, personnel training, ammunition, communications, software support, and periodic overhaul for as long as the ship remains in service since its commissioning in 1985. The Giuseppe Garibaldi will become Indonesia's first aircraft carrier, but it will also come with engineering constraints. The Italian carrier was laid down on March 26, 1981, launched on June 11, 1983, and commissioned on September 30, 1985, so the ship is entering Indonesian service almost 41 years after commissioning and more than 45 years after construction began.

In its later configuration, it displaced about 10,100 tonnes standard and 14,150 tonnes at full load, with a length of 180.2 m, a beam of 33.4 m and a draught of about 8.2 m. The flight deck measures about 174 m by 30 m and incorporates a 4-degree ski-jump, while the aviation arrangement could accommodate about 12 aircraft in the hangar and another six on deck depending on the mission. Four General Electric/Avio LM2500 gas turbines generate a combined 60,400 kW, or about 81,000 hp, through two shafts, providing a speed above 30 knots and a range of about 7,000 nautical miles at 20 knots. The electrical system relies on six diesel generators and one emergency generator, and this may become one of the most important technical bottlenecks if Indonesia installs new radars, drone control stations, additional communications systems, electronic warfare equipment, and server capacity because every new subsystem increases power and cooling demand.

Italian-service manning could reach about 830 personnel in a full configuration, divided into roughly 550 ship crew, up to 180 aviation personnel, and approximately 100 command staff. Indonesia currently speaks of about 500 personnel for ship operation, but its own officers have indicated that the eventual number could exceed 500 once non-core personnel are included. The combat system is where the difference between the former Italian carrier and the Indonesian potential configuration is most pronounced. The Garibaldi's historical defensive armament included two Mk 29 eight-cell launchers for Aspide surface-to-air missiles, three twin 40 mm OTO Melara DARDO close-in weapon systems, and two triple 324 mm torpedo launchers, while four Otomat Mk 2 anti-ship missile launchers originally installed on the ship were removed during the 2003 modernization.

The sensor and electronic suite included the MM/SPS-768 long-range air-search radar, AN/SPS-52C early-warning radar, SPS-702 CORA surface-search radar, additional navigation and fire control radars, SLQ-732 electronic warfare equipment, SCLAR decoy launchers, satellite communications and tactical data links including Link 11, Link 14 and Link 16. In Italian service, this combination allowed the Garibaldi to participate in NATO naval networks, maintain its own air and surface surveillance picture, exchange tracks with accompanying ships and aircraft, and provide point defense while operating an embarked air group. Indonesia is not receiving that combat configuration in working condition. The transfer is legally based on the ship's obsolete and non-operational status, and the weapons are not being restored before handover.

Jakarta therefore has to decide whether the €350 million to €818 million modernization includes only hull, machinery, aviation and communications work or also a complete replacement of the combat management system, surveillance radars, identification equipment, tactical data links, electronic support measures, decoys and short-range air defense. If those systems are not replaced or modernized, the Garibaldi may be able to embark aircraft and act as a command ship but would require escorting frigates or other combatants for air defense, anti-submarine protection and surface warfare. If Indonesia does replace them, the work would extend well beyond fitting new boxes because new radar arrays, missile launchers and electronic systems may require changes to cabling, cooling, electrical distribution, antenna placement, magazines, topside weight and command spaces.

Nevertheless, the Garibaldi's operational record provides measurable evidence of what the hull could sustain when backed by a complete aviation organization. The ship was designed for STOVL operations, but Italian law initially prevented the Navy from operating its own fixed-wing combat aircraft until a legislative change in 1989. Italy subsequently acquired the AV-8B Harrier II Plus, with the first training aircraft delivered in the United States in 1991 and transported to Italy aboard the Garibaldi. A normal air group later consisted of roughly eight to 12 AV-8B jets and four to six SH-3D or AW101 helicopters, for a total aviation complement generally between 16 and 18 aircraft. During the 1995 Ibis III deployment near Somalia, embarked Harriers flew more than 100 sorties. In 1999, the carrier participated in NATO operations over Kosovo, where its aircraft conducted 30 sorties.

The Garibaldi departed Taranto on November 18, 2001, for Enduring Freedom operations and subsequently remained at sea for 87 consecutive days without a technical port call while covering about 20,000 nautical miles. Its Harriers completed 288 missions and 860 flight hours, while operating against Afghanistan from distances greater than 1,500 km. In 2011, the Garibaldi spent 78 consecutive days at sea during operations over Libya. Its embarked Harriers generated 173 sorties, more than 1,200 flight hours, and more than 140 weapon releases over the full period. Indonesia, therefore, receives the hangar, deck, fuel system, and support spaces that enabled these operations, but not the Italian pilots, maintainers, weapons personnel, mission planners, air controllers, deck crews, intelligence specialists, and supply system that produced the sortie rates. 

Personnel and shore infrastructure are consequently immediate constraints rather than secondary issues. Indonesia's first training group consists of 100 personnel sent to Italy for theoretical instruction, practical work aboard the ship, and participation in the delivery voyage. Against a projected 500-person ship complement, that represents only 20% of the basic manpower requirement, and Rear Admiral Yayan Sofiyan has indicated that the ultimate total may be higher because the initial estimate does not necessarily include every support category. Compared with the Thaon di Revel-class offshore patrol vessel KRI Brawijaya, which operates with about 203 personnel, a 500-person Garibaldi crew is 2.46 times larger before a full aviation organization is added.

This creates manpower requirements in engineering, damage control, electrical maintenance, aviation handling, firefighting, communications, logistics, navigation, and command functions that Indonesia has not previously had to concentrate on a single carrier-sized ship. Admiral Muhammad Ali has also indicated that helicopters from the Indonesian Navy, Air Force and Army are expected to operate from the Garibaldi and that pilots from those services will require deck-landing training. The shore component, for its part, is being developed at Ratai Bay in Lampung, facing the Sunda Strait. Work there includes dredging and deepening navigation channels, constructing heavy-duty mooring infrastructure, and increasing shore electrical capacity; the berthing works were 76% complete in July and had moved into the finishing phase by August 25.

The Garibaldi will remain under the Italian flag until arrival, after which it is expected to become KRI Gajah Mada, with President Prabowo Subianto scheduled to attend the September 25 commissioning ceremony. It is also planned to participate in the Indonesian Armed Forces' 81st anniversary sailing pass in October. These milestones can be met relatively quickly, but they do not represent full operational capability, which will depend on how fast Indonesia can expand from 100 initially trained personnel to a complete crew and maintain certification across engineering, aviation, and combat functions. The proposed Bayraktar TB3 role is subsequently the most consequential part of the modernization because it would potentially give the ship a function different from which it was originally optimized.

Indonesia's broader agreements with Baykar and Republikorp call for the local production of 60 navalized TB3 UAVs and nine Akincis, although those numbers apply to the national program and are not a confirmed Garibaldi air wing. The TB3 is relevant because it has folding wings, reinforced landing gear, and demonstrated ski-jump takeoffs and landings aboard Türkiye's TCG Anadolu in November 2024. The Garibaldi already has a 174-meter deck and a 4-degree ski-jump, so the basic geometry is compatible with this type of short takeoff operation. At Indo Defence 2025, a conversion model showed the Garibaldi with two island structures and TB3 models, while a Fincantieri delegation including engineers and a former ship commander visited Jakarta in July 2025 and divided potential modernization into four principal work areas.

If confirmed, the main engineering challenge is not whether a TB3 can physically move along the deck but whether the ship can sustain an operational UAV cycle. That would require dedicated control rooms, secure line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight communications, satellite links where required, mission-planning consoles, servers, recording and exploitation equipment, maintenance workshops, spare parts storage, revised hangar arrangements and deck procedures for launching, recovering, refueling and rearming multiple unmanned aircraft. A TB3-centered air group could potentially place more aircraft aboard than the historical 16 to 18 Harrier-and-helicopter mix because of the smaller footprint and folding wings, but higher deck density would also increase aircraft movement, maintenance workload and communications demand.

Legacy power generation capacity, internal architecture and deck-handling systems have already been identified as limitations for high-density drone operations. Indonesia would also need to decide how the TB3's sensor data enters the Navy's wider command network, who controls the drone beyond line of sight, how targeting data is passed to ships or land-based units, what weapons are authorized for carrier operations, and how many UAVs are permanently assigned to the ship. The central question after September 2026 will be whether Indonesia can obtain enough operational availability from a 1980s carrier to justify a refurbishment that may reach €818 million. The Garibaldi had already undergone a major modernization in 2003 and another extensive overhaul in 2013.

During the 2013 work, more than 30,000 kg of steel were replaced, 4,880 m of piping were renewed, 29,348 m³ of tanks were cleaned, about 5,200 m² of hull were treated and roughly 4,400 m² of flight deck were recoated, while propulsion, flight support and C4I systems also received attention. Despite that work, structural aging, rising maintenance requirements, electrical generation limits and declining compatibility with the more modern F-35 and networked combat systems contributed to the ship's withdrawal from active Italian service in 2024. Indonesia is therefore considering spending 6.5 to 15.1 times the ship's residual accounting value on refurbishment alone, up to 43.7 times Italy's dismantlement estimate.

The ship will also require at least 500 personnel, versus roughly 203 aboard KRI Brawijaya 320, meaning Garibaldi imposes a manpower requirement roughly 146% higher than the PPA-derived combatant before aviation personnel are fully counted. Indonesia has also identified a longer-term objective of operating at least four amphibious helicopter carriers, which gives the Garibaldi a possible secondary role as a training and doctrine-development ship for future operations, potentially under the name KRI Gajah Mada.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.

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