Japan Joins Indonesia Firefighting in First Overseas Mission

9 hours ago 6

September 12, 2026 | 02:37 pm

Firefighters from the Central Kalimantan Forestry Agency extinguish a peatland fire in Bukit Tunggal Village, Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, July 12, 2026. ANTARA/Auliya Rahman

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) transport ship carrying three CH-47 Chinook helicopters arrived at Kijing Port in West Kalimantan on Thursday. This marked Tokyo's first overseas firefighting deployment, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported.

The 8,900-ton Osumi-class landing ship, JS Kunisaki, departed from the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kure base in Hiroshima Prefecture on August 30 carrying approximately 350 maritime and ground defense force personnel.

Indonesian Ministry of Defense secretary-general Tri Budi Utomo stated that the helicopters will operate out of Pontianak, conducting preliminary flight tests before commencing aerial firefighting operations from September 12 to 19, Ground News reported.

The heavy-lift Ground Self-Defense Force choppers will collect around five tons of water per run from nearby rivers to dump over burning areas, working alongside Indonesian military forces to contain the fires, Kyodo News detailed.

"We will make every effort to execute the mission to help the victims," a Japanese Defense Ministry official told Kyodo News.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Defense Ministry official expressed hope that Japan's cooperation would enable a prompt and effective disaster response.

The mission comes as severe dry weather intensifies peatland and forest fires across Indonesia, creating a toxic haze that drifted over 800 kilometers and breached emergency thresholds in neighboring Malaysia, impacting more than 1.4 million students, Ground News noted.

According to Ministry of Forestry data, over 202,000 hectares burned between January and July, while Kyodo News reported that nationwide fires burned roughly 2,000 square kilometers during the same period.

The operation follows a bilateral defense agreement signed in May 2026 by Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Indonesian Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin to expand joint training and disaster relief efforts, Anadolu Agency reported. The Japan Self-Defense Force personnel previously deployed CH-47 helicopters during the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster to cool overheating reactors following a major earthquake and tsunami.

Concurrently, Japan has deployed Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets to India for "Veer Guardian-2026," a joint bilateral air exercise running through September at Air Force Station Jodhpur, Anadolu Agency reported.

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh called the maiden jet deployment a "significant milestone." Koizumi posted on X that he is "deeply encouraged to see that Japan-India defense cooperation is steadily developing through the accumulation of exchanges and joint training."

Read: Forest Fires Continue to Rage Across 7 Mountains in East Java

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