Batalyon Intai Amfibi / YONTAIFIB (Amphibious Reconnaissance Batallion)

Yontaifib is an elite unit in the Marine Corps, just like Kopassus in the Army. This unit is used to be named Kipam (Komando Intai Para Amfibi - Amphibious Reconnaissance Special Forces Command).
To obtain a certification of amphibious reconnaissance, a regular Marine has to first pass a tough selection and then pass the nine-month rigorous training program that contains the most difficlut curriculum. Thus, this amphibious recon certificate is very similar to commando certificate in Kopassus.
To become a Yontaifib troop, a candidate is selected from the Marine Corps who has already fulfilled the thorough mental and physical requirements, and who at least has actively served the corps for two years. The certification of amphibious reconnaissance is so difficult that the passing rate of these candidates in each class is only ten percent.
One of the most challenging exercise in this certification program is to swim underwater for three kilometers with the hands and feet are all tied. Because they are tied, the swimmer has to mimic the way dolphins swim. This swimming style is a training for anticipation of being caught by the enemies and trying to escape by swimming in the river or sea. The escape experience by U.S. Navy Seal members in the Vietnam War is the basis for this training. Selengkapnya...

Detasemen Jala Mengkara / DENJAKA (Jala Mengkara Detachment/Anti-Terror Unit

The history of Jala Mengkara Detachment (Denjaka) started on November 4, 1982 when the Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff formed a unit called Navy Special Forces (Pasusla). The existence of Pasusla was urgently needed to counter the terrorism activities in the sea.

In the initial phase, 70 personnels from Amphibious Reconnaissance Unit and Underwater Special Unit were recruited to form Pasusla. The trainings for this new unit was under the command of Western Fleet commander with the assistance from the Marine Corps commander. The Navy chief of staff was the operational commander for Pasusla. Western Fleet Command Headquarter became the units base.

Upon further development of this unit, Navy chief of staff requested Indonesian Armed Forces commander to form Denjaka. The armed forces commander agreed to this request and since then Denjaka became the Naval Anti-Terror Unit. According to Navy chief of staff direction, Denjaka is a Marines special unit that has the responsibilities to be capable to conduct anti-terror, anti-sabotages, and naval clandestine operations under direct command of armed forces commander.


Denjaka recruitment process started after the conclusion of Para and Commando trainings. Before enrolling in Denjaka training, the troop must have been qualified to become an amphibious surveillance unit member. In its operation, this special forces unit must be able to reach the operational target via sea, underwater, or airborne. This unit has been conducting several joint-practices with the US Navy SEAL teams. Selengkapnya...

Korps Marinir

Born on November 15, 1945, the Marine Corps (Kormar) is the Indonesian Navys ground troops. The corps has the duties of, offensively, being the main forces in amphibious combat operations and, defensively, being the quick reaction forces in emergency situation to defend the beach fronts from enemys invasion.



Kormar has been active in various military operations in Indonesia. One of the biggest amphibious military operation was Operation Jayawijaya in which thousands of marines landed in West Irian in the early 60s as a part of Trikora campaign to free West Irian from Dutch occupation.



In 1999 a plan was proposed to expand the Kormar from the current strength of 13,000 personnels. Based on this plan, every Kormars base will have three combat brigades: the Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery and will be supported by one Combat Support Regiment and one Administration Support Regiment. The expansion will create three Kormar bases: Surabaya for Eastern area command, Jakarta for Central area command, and Rate Island in Lampung for Western area command. The expansion also will increase the strength of Kormar to 23,000 personnels. Selengkapnya...

TON-TAI-PUR

The combat and reconnaissance platoon (Tontaipur) is Kostrads newest elite unit, formed on August 4, 2001. After a five-month intensive trainings, 97 personnels selected from the 9th and the 13th Infantry Brigades became the first troops for this elite unit.



Just as the name implies, Tontapiur will be sent to do surveillance and reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines and destroy enemys strategic installations. Some of the equipments that these troops carry are special assault rifles and night vision goggle (NVG). Each Tontaipur personnel has the abilities to conduct operations on land, sea, and in the air.



The first test for Tontaipur was the operation to demolish the Free Aceh Movements (GAM). Selengkapnya...

KOSTRAD

KOSTRAD [Army Strategic Reserve Command], which has between 25,000 and 26,000 troops, supervises operational readiness among all commands and conducts defense and security operations at the strategic level in accordance with policies of the ABRI commander. KOSTRAD came into being when Indonesia was dealing with the liberation of West Irian in 1960, and was formally constitued on 06 March 1961. Initially designated the Army General Reserve Corps, its name was changed to KOSTRAD in 1963.

These green-beret troops have never been absent from the various military operations, such as G-30-S/PKI [30 September Movement/Indonesian Communist Party], Trisula, the PGRS [Sarawak People's Guerrilla Force] in Sarawak, the PARAKU [North Kalimantan People's Force] in North Kalimantan, and Operation Seroja in East Timor. KOSTRAD troops have also been relied on at the international level, as was the case with Garuda troops in Egypt (1973-78) and Vietnam (1973-75) and with those in the combined peace force in the midst of the Iran-Iraq war of 1989 and 1990.
In 1984 the PANGKOSTRAD became responsible to the ABRI commander for the conduct of combat operations, called defense and security operations. At present, KOSTRAD has a strength of some 35,000 to 40,000 army personnel with two infantry divisions: the 1st Division, headquartered at Cilodong, West Java, and the 2d Division, headquartered at Malang, East Java. Each of the divisions contains airborne and infantry brigades. KOSTRAD also includes a separate airborne brigade; one cavalry brigade; two field artillery regiments; and several combat support and service support units. Selengkapnya...

SAT-81 GULTOR

To anticipate the increase in potential airplane hijacking cases in the 70s and 80s, the head of Indonesian Army Strategic Intelligence Office (BAIS) formed a new detachment in the Army Special Forces (then Kopassandha). On June 30, 1982, the new unit, called Detasemen 81 (Den-81) Kopassandha, was formally established with Major Luhut B. Panjaitan as its first commander and Captain Prabowo Subianto as its first vice commander. Both of these officers had been sent to Germans GSG-9 (Grenzschutzgruppe-9) school to learn about the anti-terror techniques. These two officers then selected and trained the Den-81 troops.

The desire to form Den-81 was mostly motivated by the hijacking incident of Garudas DC-9 Woyla in Don Muang Airport, Bangkok-Thailand, on March 31, 1981. The troops that involved in the operation to free Woyla became the first troops in Den-81. Later, Den-81 was changed into Unit-81 Anti-Terror (Sat-81 Gultor). From 1995-2001, Den-81 became the Group 5 Antiterror (Groups 4 Sandhi Yudha) in the Kopassus (new name for Army Special Forces) structure.

Sat-81 Gultor is under the direct command of Kopassus commander in chief. Currently, this unit is led by a colonel. The recruitment process of this unit starts when the troops finish the Para and Commando programes in Batujajar, West Java. From here, they will be assigned to Group 1 and Group 2 of Kopassus for orientation or gaining combat experience. After returning from these assignments, these troops will be evaluated for further assignment to the Anti-terror unit. The Anti-terror program is conducted in Special Combat Training School in Batujajar, West Java.

The most recent successful operation conducted by Sat-81 Gultor is the rescue of 26 hostages from Kelly Kwaliks terrorist group in Irian Jaya on May 15, 1996. However, Operation Woyla is still the biggest and internationally well-known operation that Indonesain Army ever experienced.

Currently, there is no exact information of the number of troops in Sat-81 Gultor. Selengkapnya...

Komando Pasukan Khusus

The Special Forces Command (KOPASSUS), formerly called the Sandi Yudha Forces Command and KOPASSANDHA (which also means Special Forces Command), are trained in intelligence gathering, a variety of special operations techniques, sabotage, and airborne and seaborne landings. Founded on 16 April 1952, KOPASSUS was reorganized and reduced in size in 1985, and by 1992 KOPASSUS forces numbered some 2,500 army personnel identifiable by their distinctive red berets organized into two operational groups and one training group.
By the late 1990s KOPASSUS numbered some 6,000-strong, an increase in the number of troops, but below that of 1985. Headquarters at Cijantung, East Jakarta, KOPASSUS had expanded to five Groups, with Group IV specifically handling intelligence operations along with the KOPASSUS Joint Intelligence Unit [SGI].

Circa year 2001, Kopassus reorganizes its personnels into some 5,000-strong forces. The new organization is as follows:

Group 1 Para Commando (Taktakan, Serang, Banten) with 3 batallions
Group 2 Para Commando (Kandang Menjangan, Kartasura, Solo) with 3 batallions
Group 3 Intelligence (Cijantung, Jakarta)
(1) Para Commando batallions (independent) (Semplak, Bogor)
(1) HQ Detachment (Cijantung, Jakarta)
(1) Unit-81 Anti-Terrorists (Cijantung, Jakarta)
Pusdikpassus / Special Forces Training Center (Batujajar, Bandung)


KOPASSUS is considered to be an elite force that has traditionally emphasized its small size and its quick-strike potential. It has been involved in numerous military actions in response to internal Indonesian unrest. KOPASSUS units were involved in 1981 in freeing the hostages from the "Woyla," the Garuda Airline plane hijacked by followers of Imran, leader of an Islamic splinter movement in West Java. KOPASSUS members climbed Mount Everest in 1997. Selengkapnya...

Introduction to Indonesian Elite Forces

The history of Indonesian special forces units begins when in 1952 Col. Alex Kawilarang, the commander of the 3rd Military District (Siliwangi), established a small commando-qualified unit which later will be known as Kopassus. Following its founding, several other special forces units came into existence. (Several important figures of these special forces are listed in the 'Prominent Figures' section).

Today, the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) operates several highly-trained special forces. The army has Kopassus, Kostrad and Raiders; the navy has Marines and Kopaska; the air force has Paskhas; and the police has Brimob.

Within these special forces, there are elite units that are trained to operate mainly as Anti-Terrorist/Counter-Terrorist forces. Kopassus has Sat-81 Gultor, Marines has Denjaka and Yontaifib, Paskhas has Den Bravo-90, and Brimob has Gegana and Detasemen-88.

Kostrad-own Tontaipur and Marines' Yontaifib are elite units that serve different purpose. Tontaipur and Yontaifib are trained to do combat and surveillance operations against enemy combatants. Kopaska also has the same skills as Tontaipur and Yontaifib units, but, in addition to that, Kopaska has been trained since the very beginning to operate as a counter-terrorist unit on or below water.

The elite units of TNI and Indonesian Police all have been qualified as commando units. The basic qualifications of being a commando include combat intelligence, anti-guerilla warfare, jungle warfare, jungle survival, reconnaissance operation, night infiltration, hand-in-hand combat, beach-landing operation, diving, airborne, and long-march. Further qualifications include combat free-fall, advance diving, sniper, mountaineering, computer expert, psychological warfare, and ethnic/foreign languages. Selengkapnya...

YON RAIDERS

Batalyon Raiders (Raiders Battalions) were inaugurated on December 22, 2003. The first ten battalions that are Raiders-qualified were formed from eigth Kodam's (Military Territorial Command) assault infantry battalions and two Kostrad's non-airborne infantry battalions.

Each Raiders battalion has a strength of 747 personnels. They receive six-month intensive education and special trainings on modern combat, anti-guerilla, and conventional war. Each battalion is trained to have the combat ability of three regular infantry battalion, like combat ambush and air mobility (i.e. jump from helicopter).

To increase its combat ability, 50 personnel from each battalion will be trained further by Kopassus (Indonesian Army Special Force) on anti-terror and other special combat technique.

The ten new Raiders battalion are:
Yonif Linud 100 Bukit Barisan becomes Yonif 100/Raider Kodam Bukit Barisan;
Yonif 145/Bhakti Nagara becomes Yonif 200/Raider Kodam Sriwijaya;
Yonif 327 becomes Yonif 300/Raider Kodam Siliwangi;
Yonif 401 Banteng Raider becomes Yonif 400/Raider Kodam Diponegoro;
Yonif 507/Sikatan becomes Yonif 500/Raider Kodam Brawijaya;
Yonif Linud 612/Modang becomes Yonif 600/Raider Kodam Tanjungpura;
Yonif Linjud 700 Wira Yudha Sakti becomes Yonif 700/Raider Kodam Wirabuana;
Yonif 741/ Satya Bhakti becomes Yonif 900/Raider Kodam Udayana;
Yonif 323/ Buaya Putih Kostrad becomes Yonif 232/Raider divisi 1 Kostrad;
Yonif 412/Bharata Eka Sakti Kostrad menjadi Yonif 412/Raider divisi 2 Kostrad. Selengkapnya...