Indonesian, U.S. forces conduct combined joint land strike during Super Garuda Shield
BATURAJA, Indonesia — Indonesian and U.S. forces integrated rocket artillery and aviation during a combined joint land strike live-fire event at Baturaja Combat Training Center Sept. 4 and 7, 2026, as part of Super Garuda Shield.
The ground-fire portion brought together U.S. Army M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, Indonesian Army ASTROS II Mk6 launchers and Indonesian Marine Corps RM-70 Vampire launchers. The aviation portion included Indonesian F-16 fighter aircraft and U.S. Army and Indonesian AH-64 Apache helicopters.
“Today was a great example of working together to conduct safe and responsible training,” said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Ed Matthaidess, Army Forces commander for Super Garuda Shield, following the Sept. 4 event. “It's a huge coalition effort, a lot of synchronization goes into that.”
“The combined joint land strike demonstrated what the United States and Indonesia can achieve when we train together,” said U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Jonathan Bowman, fires and effects coordinator for Marine Rotational Force-Darwin. “We are grateful to our Indonesian counterparts and hosts for their support and for the opportunity to learn from one another. Exercises like Super Garuda Shield strengthen the cooperation we need to operate together effectively.”
Coordinating those capabilities required participants to work through differences in procedures, equipment and doctrine.
“Executing joint and multinational fires coordination is among the most demanding tasks in modern combined arms warfare,” said U.S. Army Capt. Eric Brown, a fires planner with the 4th Infantry Division.
Brown said coordinating Army, Marine Corps and Indonesian capabilities required participants to align different procedures, technical requirements and doctrine. He credited Next Generation Command and Control technology with supporting rapid data sharing and fires synchronization.
For the crews, that preparation included repeated rehearsals to identify potential problems before firing.
“Lots of practicing, lots of run-throughs,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Madeleine Rocha, a HIMARS crew member with the Iowa Army National Guard. “We made sure that everything runs seamlessly.”
Rocha said working alongside other forces helped crews understand different procedures and adjust their approach as training progressed.
Super Garuda Shield is an annual, Indonesia-led exercise designed to strengthen interoperability, capabilities and cooperation among the Indonesian National Armed Forces, the U.S. military and participating partners.
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