Keeping watch
(click to view full)

Australia’s long coast is also its border, and they’ve taken an innovative approach to the problem. Unlike, say, the US Coast Guard, Australia has semi-privatized the coastal patrol function, placing contractors under the Customs service. Once intruders are detected, these contractors can then call on pre-arranged support from civil authorities and/or the Royal Australian Navy and Air Force. The Canadian American Strategic Review (CASR) think tank offers some excellent coverage of the Coastwatch program, including excerpts from a Canadian Senate report that details the program’s jurisdicton and assets, and a discussion of potential lessons learned for Canada, which faces similar issues.

Surveillance Australia Pty Ltd, part of the Cobham Services Division, was recently named the preferred bidder for a 12-year, A$ 1 billion Australian Coastwatch contract over Raytheon Australia. Cobham is the current provider of aerial Civil Maritime Surveillance services to the Australian Customs Service, and the new contract under Australia’s CMS04 (Civil Maritime Surveillance 04) program will expand its fleet, address key concerns – and possibly have an impact on a major American maritime surveillance program.

RAAF AP-3C Orion
(click to view full)

Coastwatch, which is a division of the Australian Customs Service, currently contracts for the use of 15 fixed-wing aircraft, 2 helicopters, and set annual availability quotas from Customs and Navy patrol vessels (about 1,800 hours) and RAAF AP-3C Orions (about 250 hours) under Operation Cranberry. Coastwatch covers more than 37,000 km of coastline, plus an offshore maritime area of almost 15 million square kilometers. Except for contracted AP-3C availabilities from the RAAF, aerial surveillance is carried out by civilian operators. Indeed, the program is the world’s largest aerial civil maritime surveillance operation. It involves 170 personnel, flying 20,000 hours per year from 4 four permanent bases (Broome, Darwin, Horn Island and Cairns) around Australia’s northern coast.

As noted above, these contracted assets work hand-in-hand with civil and military authorities to thwart drug runners, people smugglers and illegal fishing. While the surveillance is carried out under the auspices of Customs, several agencies rely on the intelligence gathered, including the Australian Federal Police, Quarantine and Inspection Service, Defence, Foreign Affairs and Trade and Fisheries.

Coastwatch Dash-8 Q200
(click to view full)

Under the new contract, Cobham companies will provide, operate and maintain an updated fleet of 10 Dash-8 aircraft through to the year 2020, starting in January 2008. The new service based on Bombardier Dash-8 aircraft will double the fleet to provide all-weather, day and night electronic surveillance of Australia’s maritime Exclusive Economic Zone.

Australia’s border patrol authorities have been stretched by a flood of illegal fishing vessels over the past 12 months, particularly from Indonesia. The influx has led to calls for the establishment of a state-based Coastguard in Western Australia. Meanwhile, more than 8,000 boats have been detected, resulting in at least 200 arrests. Fisheries officers have also expressed concern that the sophisticated radars used by Coastwatch aircraft and patrol vessels have difficulty picking up the small wooden boats used by Indonesian fishermen.

The current Surveillance Australia fixed-wing aircraft roster includes:

• 5 Dash-8 Q200 MPA aircraft fitted with Immarsat communications, surveillance radar, infra-red sensors and daylight TV camera for long-range offshore surveillance.

• 3 Cessna Reims F406 turboprop aircraft fitted with surveillance radar and night vision systems for inshore surveillance.

• 6 Pilatus Britten-Norman BN2B Islander aircraft, fitted for the Visual Surveillance role.

• 1 Shrike AC500 Aero Commander, fitted for the Visual Surveillance Role.

The new fleet will change to 6 Dash-8 Q200 aircraft, plus 4 longer-range and larger Dash-8 Q300 aircraft. The Islanders and Aero Commanders will almost certainly be retired per CMS04’s “all electronic surveillance” guidelines, and the Cessnas may be retired as well.

In July 2005, in another major plank of CMS04, Australian Helicopters Pty Ltd was chosen as preferred tenderer to deliver helicopter surveillance in the Torres Strait. AHPL has operated helicopters under a contract with Coastwatch since 1995 and will conduct patrols to thwart illegal activity in the Torres Strait. That contract is worth $100 million, and also covers a 12 year period.

Mariner UAV
(click to view full)

In order to keep Coastwatch capabilities up to date, the successful bidder will be required to improve detection capabilities over the life of the contract. Contenders had also been asked by Justice Minister Chris Ellison to use new technologies such as UAVs, advances in satellite imagery and new-generation radar to improve the reliability and range of Australia’s civil maritime border protection effort.

Australia’s Ministry of Defence has already announced Australia will trial pilotless spy planes to patrol vital North West Shelf oil and gas reserves off Western Australia. A trial is already underway using the General Atomics Mariner UAV, which may be used by Surveillance Australia, given its co-operation agreement with General Atomics and the high cost of the RQ-4B Global Hawk. If it is used successfully in this context for maritime surveillance and patrol, it could give the Mariner UAV an important boost in the US-led BAMS program to select a complementary UAV system for the future P-8A Multimission Maritime Aircraft. See follow-on Coastwatch article for more details.

UPDATES:

May 11/06: DID article “Australia to Beef Up Northern Border Protection” covers additional expenditures, some of which are relevant to Coastwatch.

March 8/06: DID reports on finalization of the contract, and offers details and additional photos re: the new aircraft: “A$ 1.0 Bn Coastwatch Contract Finalized, New Aircraft Ordered.” It also offers updates re: Coastwatch-related UAV trials.

Additional Readings and Sources: Coastwatch Australia

• CASR; Excerpts from a Canadian Senate Committee on National Security and Defence report – The Hon. Colin Kenny, Chair (July 2004) – Maritime Security: Lessons Learned from Other Middle-Power’s Approaches to Guarding the Coasts – Australia

• Australian Customs Service – Coastwatch, An Overview

• Cobham subsidiary Surveillance Australia

• DID (May 11/06) – Australia to Beef Up Northern Border Protection. Includes some additional Coastwatch-related funding.

• DID (March 8/06) – A$ 1.0 Bn Coastwatch Contract Finalized, New Aircraft Ordered. Includes additional detail re: the Dash-8 MPA platform and its equipment.

• Cobham corporate release (Dec 7/05) – #147 Cobham Named Preferred Bidder for A$1bn Australian Coastwatch Contract

• The Australian (Dec 6/05) – $1bn plan to boost coastal defences

• DID (Nov 18/05) – Australian Agreement re: A$ 1B+ AP-3C Orion Support & Upgrade Program

• Australian Ministerial Paper, The Hon Peter Reith MP, Minister for Defence (October 2001) – Coastal Surveillance and Protection: a “US-Style” Coast Guard or the Australian Coastwatch?

Additional Readings and Sources: Related

• CASR (July 2002) – Australia’s ‘Coastwatch’ – What Can Canada Learn?

• CASR – A Modest Proposal – SAR Aircraft: Rethinking Search and Rescue

• DID (May 10/05) – P-8A MMA Could Become a Multinational Program (Updated)

• GlobalSecurity.org – Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS)

• DID (Dec 2/05) – Global Hawk UAV Prepares for Maritime Role

• Military.com – BORDERLINE: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Homeland Security (Watchkeeper & Mariner)