[Kabar-indonesia] Australia to try drones to fight illegal fishing, drug running

[Joyo at aol.com]

Australia to try drones to fight illegal fishing, drug running

Australia has announced plans to try out unmanned drones in the fight against 
illegal fishing, drug running and human trafficking.

The defence department said it was testing the ability of a US-made drone to 
conduct patrols in the North West Shelf, off the coast of Western Australia, 
an area it described as having "vital strategic and economic importance".

Senator Sandy Macdonald, the parliamentary secretary to the minister for 
defence, said the unmanned aircraft would work in tandem with a naval patrol boat 
througout the month of September.

He said the drone would record the movements of vessels passing through 
Australian waters and transmit the data to an air force base in South Australia via 
the patrol boat.

Macdonald said the trial would assess the drone's potential to provide 
additional surveillance off the north coast, where patrols have been stepped up 
after incursions by Indonesian fishing vessels hunting shark fin for the lucrative 
Chinese market.

"It is essential to explore new solutions and new technologies to protect 
this region from criminal activities such as illegal fishing, drug running and 
people smuggling," he said in a statement.

The unarmed drone would carry only sensor and communications equipment 
suitable for maritime surveillance missions, he said.

The aircraft can fly at altitudes of between 500 and 50,000 feet (150 to 
15,000 metres) for up to 30 hours without re-fuelling, the defence department said.

Macdonald said Australia was considering establishing a network of manned and 
unmanned aircraft to patrol its waters.

Last week, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said the government had approved 
one to 1.5 billion dollars for such a project, which meant it could now start 
formal negotiations with the US navy for cooperative development.

"It could play a significant role in the patrolling of such areas as the 
North West Shelf, the sea-air gap to the north as well as Australia's Antarctic 
territories," he said.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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