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Australia buys high-tech drones to monitor South China Sea, Pacific
SYDNEY, June 26, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Australia will invest Aus$7 billion
(US$5.2 billion) to develop and buy high-tech US drones for joint military
operations and to monitor waters including the South China Sea, it said
Tuesday.
Canberra has been embarking on its largest peacetime naval investment
through a massive shipbuilding strategy that includes new submarines,
offshore patrol vessels and frigates to shore up its defence capabilities.
As part of this, the government will spend Aus$1.4 billion to buy the first
of six MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance drones, with the aircraft to enter
service from mid-2023, complementing seven P-8A Poseidon planes currently in
use.
“Together these aircraft will significantly enhance our anti-submarine
warfare and maritime strike capability, as well as our search and rescue
capability,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in a statement.
“This investment will protect our borders and make our region more secure.”
The drones — high-altitude, long endurance aircraft that can support
missions for up to 24 hours and provide a 360-degree view of their
surroundings for over 2,000 nautical miles — will replace the AP-3C Orion
spy plane.
“It gives us enormous capabilities in surveillance and reconnaissance,”
Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne told Sky News, adding that the
total cost was about Aus$7 billion.
“Australia’s responsible for about 10 percent of the world’s surface into
the Indian Ocean, the Pacific, down to Antarctica up into the South China
Sea.”
Pyne added that the drones would be used to monitor who was in Australian
waters, other countries’ naval vessels, for people-smuggling and illegal
fishing.
The unmanned systems would also continue Australia’s surveillance of the
South China Sea, he added.
“Australia insists on its rights to be able to travel through the South
China Sea, in international waters as we have always done, whether it is with
surface ships or aircraft,” Pyne said.
China claims sovereignty over virtually all the resource-endowed South
China Sea, despite rival claims from its Southeast Asian neighbours.
The Australian navy has already conducted joint exercises in the South
China Sea with other nations, including the US.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1043 hrs