From FY2006 to FY2008 the U.S. Government provided approximately $57 million via the National Defense Authorization Act Section 1206 to support Indonesia’s establishment of an Integrated Maritime Surveillance System (IMSS) strategically located to cover Malacca Strait, Sulawesi Sea, and Moluccas Strait.

The fully operational IMSS enhances Indonesia’s ability to detect, track, and monitor vessels passing through territorial and international waters.  This capability is crucial to combating piracy, illegal fishing, smuggling, and terrorism within and around Indonesia’s maritime borders.  The IMSS helps achieve Indonesian and U.S. maritime security goals and exemplifies bilateral cooperation under the Comprehensive Partnership, along with setting conditions for increased multilateral collaboration with Malaysia and the Philippines.

The IMSS is a tightly integrated network of ship and shore based sensors, communications devices, and computing resources that collect, transmit, analyze and display a broad array of maritime data including automatic identification system (AIS), surface radar, surveillance cameras, global positioning system (GPS), equipment health monitors and radio transmissions of maritime traffic in wide operating areas.  Redundant sensors and multiple communication paths make the IMSS a robust and capable system.

The IMSS was officially handed over to the Government of Indonesia following an Operational Demonstration conducted in Surabaya on October 25, 2011.  The IMSS is manned and operated by the Indonesian Navy, and consists of 18 Coastal Surveillance Stations (CSS), 11 Ship-based Radars, two Regional Command Centers, and two Fleet Command Centers (Jakarta and Surabaya)

The U.S. government remains committed to improving maritime domain awareness in the region and has allocated an additional $4.6 million to ensure sustainment until 2014.