STORY: Indonesia, the U.S. and other countries conducted a live fire exercise on Friday (September 6) in Situbondo, East Java province, involving hundreds of personnel from various participating countries.
The Combined Arms Live Firing Exercise (CALFEX) was the highlight of the Super Garuda Shield (SGS) 2024 Joint Exercise which also involved Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Canada, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and New Zealand.
The 2024 event is the 18th since it was first held in 2009 in Bandung, West Java. The joint exercise was originally initiated by the Indonesian and US military forces with the aim of strengthening relations between the two countries and promoting regional security.
The drill began with integrated fire for pre-attack to facilitate an invasion, breakthrough and capture of enemy targets by troops, before infantry troops secured targets that have been controlled and carried out clearance of enemy territory, and ended with securing a helicopter landing zone.
The exercise comes amid US efforts to ease tensions between the two world powers ahead of November’s U.S. election after the country’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in late August.
