17 February 2014

News Story: Australia to buy seven drones for border protection


MELBOURNE, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government would spend around 3 billion Australian dollars to purchase seven large unmanned aircraft for the country's border protection, local media reported Saturday.

The aircraft would be primarily used for military purposes such as spotting enemy ships and planes in a conflict, but they can also be used to detect asylum seekers since the drone can search an area of 40,000 square nautical miles in a single mission.

Defense Minister David Johnston would soon refer to the cabinet for its first pass approval of 3 billion dollars for the seven U.S. made MQ-4C Triton, a maritime version of the Global Hawk.

Read the full story at Xinhua