Australia Okays $3 Billion Drone Acquisition Plan

The Australian Defence Force is resurrecting a $3 billion plan to buy massive seven intelligence and surveillance drones to be used for maritime surveillance and intercepting asylum seeker boats. The $200 million Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance drone is the largest, most expensive unmanned aerial vehicle in the world today. With a vast wingspan of 39.8 meters, it can lift the craft to 65,000 feet and stay airborne for 35 hours with a non-stop range of 16,000 kilometres – eclipsing the endurance of similar manned aircraft. In 2004, the government announced its decision to buy a fleet of 12 drones for $1 billion which was later cancelled in 2009. The decision to buy the drones was quietly announced in July along with the latest Defence Capability Plan. The Government plans to bring forward by three years the acquisition of "high altitude, long endurance" unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The RAAF now wants seven large UAVs flying by 2019. The favoured option is a new, maritime surveillance version of the Global Hawk - the MQ-4C Triton. The estimated cost of the project is between $2 billion and $3 billion. The Royal Australian Air Force now wants Triton to support a new generation of manned maritime patrol aircraft, the P-8A, which looks like a converted 737 airliner. Together, these two systems will replace the RAAF's aging fleet of P-3 Orions that have spent decades patrolling the vast expanse of ocean surrounding Australia - about 20 per cent of the world's sea surface. Capable of being armed with both missiles and torpedos, the 8 P8 Poseidons already on order will also be capable of anti-submarine warfare.