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  Channel NewsAsia 1 Sep 06
Australia to try drones to fight illegal fishing, drug running

SYDNEY : 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 throughout 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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