The Development and Operational Impact of Indonesia's Approved Partial System of Archipelagic Sea Lanes.
Abstract
The Indonesian archipelago is a critical maritime and air crossroad within the Asia-Pacific theater of operations. U.S. planners involved in preparing and executing military operations in this theater must be knowledgeable concerning both the physical and legal limitations on sea and air routes which deploying U.S. forces will use in traversing this vast archipelago. This paper describes those limitations and discusses whether or not they will change once Indonesia designates the partial system of archipelagic sea lanes recently adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Because the process of adopting archipelagic sea lanes by the IMO can adversely effect navigation and overflight rights required by U.S. forces in order to transit the Indonesian archipelago, this paper also describes certain issues which arose at the IMO which had the potential to effect operational planning dependent upon these rights. The paper concludes that should Indonesia choose to designate its approved partial system of archipelagic sea lanes, there will be no impact on operational planning and relatively minor impact on the tactical conduct of our forces.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 17, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA370753
Entities
People
- Jonathan P. Edwards
Organizations
- Naval War College