- Joined
- Sep 20, 2016
Australia is to invest A$7 billion (US$5.18 billion) to develop and buy high-tech US drones for joint military operations and to monitor waters including the South China Sea, it said yesterday.
Canberra has been embarking on its largest peacetime naval investment through a shipbuilding strategy that includes new submarines, offshore patrol vessels and frigates to shore up its defense capabilities.
Together these aircraft will enhance our anti-submarine warfare and maritime strike capability, as well as our search and rescue capability,” Australian 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 more than 2,000 nautical miles (3,704km) — are to replace the AP-3C Orion spy plane.
“It gives us enormous capabilities in surveillance and reconnaissance,” Australian Minister for the Defense Industry Christopher Pyne told Sky News, adding that the total cost was about A$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,” he said.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2018/06/27/2003695614
Canberra has been embarking on its largest peacetime naval investment through a shipbuilding strategy that includes new submarines, offshore patrol vessels and frigates to shore up its defense capabilities.
Together these aircraft will enhance our anti-submarine warfare and maritime strike capability, as well as our search and rescue capability,” Australian 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 more than 2,000 nautical miles (3,704km) — are to replace the AP-3C Orion spy plane.
“It gives us enormous capabilities in surveillance and reconnaissance,” Australian Minister for the Defense Industry Christopher Pyne told Sky News, adding that the total cost was about A$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,” he said.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2018/06/27/2003695614
