r/TodayILearnedID

The U.S. Army maintains a fictional geopolitical world called the Decisive Action Training Environment (DATE) for military training and wargaming. Because real countries can't simply be used as stand-ins for training scenarios, DATE contains fictional countries with surprisingly elaborate backstories.

One of them is Sunda Baru, which is essentially an alternate history version of Indonesia and parts of Malaysia.

According to the Army's lore, the Sunda Baru Federation was formed in 1985 through the union of Indonesia and the Malaysian states of Johor, Sarawak, Pahang, Selangor, Terengganu, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and others. It was admitted to the UN in 1986 and, by 2005, had become a regional power with an expansionist foreign policy and a modern military capable of projecting power throughout Southeast Asia.

And this isn't just a name on a map. The Army's fictional world contains detailed information about countries' politics, history, economies, military forces, geography, and international relationships.

The fictional Sunda Baru has a surprisingly sophisticated military. Its army can rapidly deploy multiple infantry divisions and airborne brigades, while its navy has submarines and modern anti-submarine, anti-ship, and air defense capabilities. Its air force operates fighter and strike aircraft capable of aerial refueling. It even has a dedicated cyber force capable of conducting offensive cyber operations.

Geopolitics: The biggest source of tension is the Malay Peninsula. Sunda Baru considers neighboring Patani Baru and Singapore to be illegitimate states and claims that the international community should not recognize their independence. Its military is particularly focused on controlling the surrounding seas and the approaches to Singapore and the Malay Peninsula.

So somewhere in the U.S. Army's training universe, there is apparently an alternate Southeast Asia where Indonesia and much of Malaysia merged into a country called Sunda Baru.

The level of lore is honestly wild.

Source: U.S. Army DATE , Sunda Baru

r/TodayILearnedID

TIL that 31,000 years ago, someone in Borneo successfully performed a surgical amputation on a child who then survived for another 6 to 9 years.

TIL - Lukisan Tertua di dunia ada di Indonesia 🇮🇩🎨❤️

TIL Borneo rainforest is estimated to be around 140 million years old, twice as old as Amazon.

TIL the U.S. Army invented a fictional country called Sunda Baru with its own history, politics, military, and geopolitics, all for military war games.