Integrated Aerial Surveillance as part of the Australian Government Pacific Maritime Security Program

The Integrated Aerial Surveillance Program is one component of the Australian Governments Pacific Maritime Security Program (PMSP). The PMSP is part of the Defence Cooperation Program and consists of three components:
1. Replacement of the current Pacific Patrol Boat fleet with larger, more capable vessels, as well as continuation of in-country advisors and substantial training, sustainment and maintenance support,
2. Integrated aerial surveillance; and
3. Enhancements to regional coordination, particularly improved ability to collect, analyse, manage and share maritime security information across national agencies, as well as with neighbouring countries and regional coordination centres such as the FFA.
The overall cost of the PMSP to the Australian Government will be AUD 2 billion over a 30 year time frame.
PMSP is being implemented by the Australian Government to enhance maritime security with a particular focus on supporting monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) in Pacific Island Countries.

Through in depth cooperation and data sharing, and with the support of the Quadrilateral Defence Coordination Group (QUADS) of Australia, New Zealand, France and the USA; Pacific Island Countries have already made great strides towards the elimination of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) tuna fishing. This is of the utmost importance because of the enormous value of tuna to the region as protein, livelihoods, government revenue and general economic and social wellbeing. The Pacific Island Countries oversee the worlds largest tuna fishery, making the fight against IUU important on a global scale.
Despite the success achieved to date, the introduction of integrated aerial surveillance will constitute a big step forward in addressing several ongoing risks, including incursion by non-tuna vessels, unauthorised transhipment and violation of regional rules such as FAD closures.
The PMSP Aerial Surveillance component will be implemented by contracting civilian fixed wing aerial surveillance capability for deployment throughout the region. The aerial surveillance will be funded and contracted directly by the Australian Department of Defence, but will be under the operational control of the FFA through an MOU between FFA and Australia. FFA will deploy the asset(s) according to the priorities and permissions of each Pacific Island Country. Information collected by the aerial surveillance will be collated by the FFA Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre and shared amongst the FFA member countries and QUADS surveillance providers according to pre-agreed policies.
While the aerial surveillance will initially focus on fisheries MCS, there is a common desire amongst FFA, Australia and the beneficiaries to evolve the capability over time to also address other maritime risks that are important to the countries.