Australia is giving maritime drones to Fiji’s military to strengthen security in the Pacific. According to an Australian Associated Press report carried by The Canberra Times on October 16, 2026, the details, including how many drones are involved, are being kept confidential. Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said that disclosing them would “tip off drug smugglers.”
The vessels are Bluebottle uncrewed surface vessels, built in Australia by Ocius. They run on sun, wind and wave energy, can stay at sea for more than 180 days, and provide reconnaissance and surveillance. Conroy highlighted their low signature: “They are virtually impossible to detect unless you get very close to them, so that gives us a real operational advantage” (The Canberra Times).
The transfer falls under Waqa Moana, a Pacific-led initiative to counter organised crime and drug trafficking in the region, which Australia backed with a A$600 million pledge at the Pacific Islands Forum in September. It also follows the Ocean of Peace Treaty, a mutual defence pact the two countries signed in July. The treaty is only the fourth alliance Australia has entered into, after those with the United States, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, and it is Fiji’s first. The report notes that China carried out a ballistic missile test in the South Pacific within hours of the signing (The Canberra Times).
The move is also backed by industrial capacity. The gift coincides with the opening of a new Ocius manufacturing hub in Sydney, and in March Canberra signed a A$176 million contract for 40 more Bluebottles for the Royal Australian Navy, which will bring its fleet to 55. The Navy already operates them from HMAS Coonawarra in Darwin for border security (The Canberra Times).
The significance goes beyond counter-narcotics. Small Pacific states cover vast exclusive economic zones with very few crewed patrol assets. Persistent, low-cost and hard-to-detect autonomous sensors give them maritime domain awareness they could not otherwise afford. For Australia, the same technology serves its own border mission, strengthens a domestic production line, and reinforces a new alliance in a region where China is actively competing for influence. Crime and gray-zone competition operate in the same waters, and the same sensors can watch for both.
What will matter next is the network behind the drones. Their value to Fiji depends on how their data is fused, shared and acted on, both by Fiji’s forces and with Australia and other Pacific partners.
Source: Andrew Brown and Lucinda Garbutt-Young, “Details of drone deal could ‘tip off drug dealers’,” The Canberra Times (Australian Associated Press), October 16, 2026.
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