So it seems that TNI-AD will place 14 Astros launchers at Natuna.
Astros perkuat pertahanan negara di Natuna
I wonder how effective they will be during an amphibious invasion.
The Indonesian Army (TNI) has upgraded and created 60 new territorial and combat units since 2002, including territorial and KOSTRAD units and infantry battalions in Kalimantan, Papua and Sulawesi. Since 2003, the TNI has formed new and upgraded existing infantry battalions into 42 raider battalions. Each Raider battalion has 810 and larger than the normal battalions of around 570 infantrymen. Raider infantrymen are trained to perform ambushes, air assault operations, while Raider infantrymen in the mechanized battalions are also trained in mechanized and urban warfare operations. For the army leadership at least, the expansion plans partly reflect the competitive relationship between the police and the military at the local level. Following the separation of the police from the military in 1999, the two security institutions have struggled to coexist given the overlap in authority in local jurisdictions (see:
Journey to the east? The rebalancing of Indonesia’s force structure | The Strategist).
The Natuna Integrated TNI Unit at Natuna Besar Island would eventually be a sprawling facility hosting composite Indonesian battalions from the Army and Marines. The TNI launched the unit’s composite battalion in August 2018
initially with only two raider companies drawn from the existing local command. IMO, a mobile defence plan by the Natuna Integrated TNI Unit will force the enemy to fight at a place and time that the TNI chooses.
- The TNI’s 1st line of defence should be Harpoon armed F-16s to target enemy ships before they get start launching landing craft.
- The 2nd line of defence should be the Apaches and conventional wheeled artillery to support outnumbered TNI defenders against enemy landing forces, at the beachhead and at the landing zones, further in-land — and for the TNI to set traps for the attackers and keep them isolated (instead of allowing them to link up).
- As a 3rd line of defence, MLRS is steel rain and use of submunitions would make them very effective against even enemy landing craft and AAVs (or its Chinese equivalent) in the water in the simplest invasion scenario. It is not so simple to fire the MLRS, as the TNI will need to deconflict the air space for its own helicopters and other air assets (before it can positively ID the enemy and fire on them).
The Indonesian Navy completed parts of its Natuna base and other facilities, but its Marines composite battalion is under development. The Indonesian Air Force hangars and facilities also remain works in progress. The TNI plans to establish tri-service ‘integrated TNI units’ across Indonesia’s key strategic outer islands. The first of these units was launched in
Natuna. There are also plans to establish other tri-service integrated units in Saumlaki, Morotai, Biak, and Merauke.
By hiding the MLRS in the earlier phases of TNI’s defence of any of the 17,000 islands, the enemy will be forced to launch numerous fighter sorties to hunt and kill the MLRS with cluster munitions (in the same class as the CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon). Amphibious operations to invade any Indonesian Island are complex, requiring close co-ordination from the air, from the sea and on land — often simultaneously. The lodgement of the first battalion of enemy troops in the 1st phase will be in logical in the face of expected resistance — the TNI will have to dislodge these initial forces and follow on enemy brigade within the same day, by spoiling counter attack. The invading enemy may use decoys and have a detailed plan to make life difficult for the TNI as defenders (so it is important not to follow the script set by the attackers).
Against a capable amphibious Marine landing force (eg PLA(N) marines or other enemy) trying to land a brigade plus sized force in the first week, I would prefer that the TNI use the MLRS system to support a motorised counter attacking force (as a 4th and final line of defence), rather than use it so early at the beach (3rd line of defence), as Natuna Besar Island really needs a brigade to defend effectively. The Battalion Composite 1 / Gardapati and stationed at Natuna Besar Island is an unique battle group with additional resources for HADR missions that includes an Astros II battery. Any early use of the MLRS by the TNI, as defenders, only serve to help the enemy detect the system (which has a huge launch radar signature that WLR systems can easily detect).
