Source: Radio New Zealand
Defence Minister Judith Collins. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The Ministry of Defence is looking to companies and experts for advice on a potential plan for surveillance drones to scour the Pacific.
As part of New Zealand’s Defence Capability Plan released last year, it said there would be a greater focus on uncrewed technology such as drones.
The purpose of the aircraft would include persistent maritime surveillance to protect the sea under New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone and support Pacific partners.
The Ministry of Defence has put out a tender for advice from companies and academics regarding the technology.
In a statement to RNZ, the ministry said the work was attached to its long-range drone project in the capability plan which had an indicative cost of between $100 and $300 million.
However, the ministry said drones might not be the only option for the surveillance work.
“This project falls within the indicative investment of long-range remotely piloted aircraft outlined in the 2025 Defence Capability Plan, although there may be other solutions.”
Information from the workshops would help to develop an indicative business case for the project later this year.
They were set to be held at the end of this month.
Defence Minister Judith Collins declined to comment.
In April last year, the government announced it would spend $12 billion over the next four years for a “modern, combat-capable” New Zealand Defence Force.
It was also announced New Zealand’s defence spending would lift from just over one percent of GDP to more than 2 percent in the next eight years.
Defence spending was last at two percent of GDP in the early 1990s.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
