The Fiji goal is to combat the rise of drug trafficking, notably methamphetamine, whose intravenous use has driven a surge in HIV/AIDS infections on the archipelago.
Australia will provide Fiji with these small unmanned boats as well as training, as part of a AUD 600 million (EUR 370 million) commitment made in September to Pacific island nations to fight organized crime at sea, according to officials.
They will be equipped with sonar to detect ships and submarines, Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said.
“For the good of every country in the region, including our own, we must work together to eradicate illicit drug trafficking,” he stressed in Sydney.
These small boats, called Blue Bottle drones, owe their name to a small venomous jellyfish that washes up on Australian beaches. They are powered by a solar mast and wind to discreetly monitor the vast northern coastline.
The Australian company Ocius, which operates them from a military base in Darwin in northern Australia, inaugurated on Friday a factory on the east coast in Sydney, where production rates are rising.
Australia’s objective is to build a fleet of 50 of these drones, capable of being transported by plane or boat and deployed “wherever we want to conduct operations in the Indian Ocean or the Pacific Ocean“, said Matt Buckley, head of the Australian Navy. Officials indicated the Fiji-bound drones would be deployed next year.
The sparsely populated Pacific island nations struggle to patrol millions of kilometers of Pacific Ocean to counter illegal fishing fleets from Asia and the passage of “narco-submarines” deployed from South America.
The strengthening of the fight against drug trafficking at sea also takes place in a context of growing Chinese efforts to cement its influence in the Pacific, where it aims to counterbalance the traditional dominance of the United States and its Australian ally.
