Draggie in the zone

Corporal Michael Di Bari checks the Draggie’s engines before a maritime surveillance patrol of Vanuatu. Photo by LAC Brett Sherriff

AN AIR Force Draggie has conducted aerial maritime surveillance patrol operations of Vanuatu’s Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) as part of Op Solania.

Op Solania is part of Australia’s commitment to provide maritime surveillance of South Pacific nations’ maritime resources. Australia has been conducting these flights since 1983, complementing other maritime surveillance patrols.

The HS748 had conducted similar flights out of Fiji before arriving in Vila on March 7.
It was the second Air Force deployment to Vanuatu within a few weeks. On March 1 two C-130s deployed at short notice to provide emergency disaster relief after a cyclone struck the island nation.

The first HS748 patrol flew on March 9 over Vanuatu’s northern islands area EEZ. Vanuatu’s Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestries and Quarantine, Maxime Carlot Korman; the Acting Director of Fisheries, Wesley Obed; and Australia’s Maritime Surveillance Adviser, Lieutenant Commander John Pritchard, embarked for the five-hour flight.
Mr Korman was also briefed on how Australia plans and coordinates such patrols.

The second patrol flown on March 10 focused on the southern Tafea Province. On board for the flight were Superintendent Pierre Carlot, Commander of Vanuatu’s Police District South; Graham Nimoho, the Director of Fisheries; and Major Phil Chapman, ADF Adviser to the Vanuatu Police Force.

Although Vanuatu’s patrol boat, RVS Tukoro was not available for operations during the Solania mission, the flights will still enable the Vanuatan authorities to prosecute illegal fishing vessels using photographs taken of possible intruders and their navigational coordinates.

The Air Force may be tasked for another Vanuatu-based Op Solania later this year.

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