Why Indonesia can use a mobile airfield

Why does Indonesia need an aircraft carrier?

Indonesia's many islands cannot all support full aviation infrastructure, so a carrier can move an airfield to the part of the archipelago that needs it.

The case for an Indonesian carrier rests on archipelagic geography. Building and sustaining runways, support equipment, and personnel on every useful island would be expensive and inflexible. A carrier concentrates that aviation infrastructure on a platform that can move between islands and operating areas.