Bluebottle drones that never sleep level playing field in Pacific drug war

Fiji's hundreds of islands and vast maritime territory makes detecting drug traffickers difficult.

Intent on accessing lucrative markets in Australia and New Zealand, smugglers from the Americas use the island nation as a Pacific transit point.

"Our biggest challenge is our waters are too big," Fiji's Defence Minister Pio Tikoduadua said.

"We don't even have eyes on it, let alone have the capability to affect anything on it."

But a new fleet of uncrewed maritime surface drones could help level the playing field.

The 7.4-metre-long Australian-made Bluebottles can remain at sea for up to six months, while using artificial intelligence to identify suspicious activity.

Powered by a retractable solar sail that can harness the sun and wind, they also have an underwater flipper that converts the boat's rocking in the waves into forward motion.

Mr Tikoduadua said the Bluebottles would help Fiji capitalise on its limited resources.

Traffickers are known to use yachts, fishing vessels, freight ships and even semi-submersibles, known as narco-subs.

Fiji's navy, meanwhile, operates just two large patrol boats, RFNS Savenaca and RFNS Timo, both Australian-donated Guardian-class vessels.

The RFNS Timo replaced a previous vessel, the RFNS Puamau, which ran aground during its maiden voyage in 2024.

'Virtually impossible to detect'

Australia is donating the drones and training as part of a $600 million package for the Pacific-wide Waqa Moana maritime security initiative to counter illicit drug trafficking. 

The money will also fund new Australian Federal Police programs and regional surveillance support.

Fiji's first drones are expected to start arriving next year, but the total number has not been made public, with Mr Tikoduadua saying they wanted to "keep drug dealers guessing".

Australian Minister for Defence Industry and Pacific Island Affairs Pat Conroy earlier this month said the Australian Navy had 15 Bluebottles, most of which monitored the country's northern coastline, with orders in for another 40.

"They are virtually impossible to detect unless you get very close to them," he said.

The Bluebottles were designed by Australian company Ocius Technology, which operates them out of a military base in Darwin.

Ocius chief growth and market development officer Rob Brezniak said the vessels could be fitted with high-tech surveillance sensors, including infrared cameras, radar and sonar to detect submarines.

He said they relayed intelligence to a team of human operators via satellite, with AI helping to filter the data and flag potential threats for a faster response.

"A government can then task an asset like a crewed vessel to approach," he said.

Mr Brezniak did not expand on how the AI technology made its assessments, saying "a combination of things helped it make an informed decision".

He also declined to disclose the individual cost of the drones, however the Australian government said its contract with Ocius to deliver the 40 drones was worth $176 million.

In Fiji's case, Mr Tikoduadua said the Bluebottles would be controlled by Fijian personnel and configured to monitor surface vessels, with a detection range of up to 30 nautical miles (55.5km).

He said intelligence would be transmitted to human operators at the Vuvale Maritime Essential Services Centre (MESC), an Australian-funded security hub near Fiji's capital Suva which houses Fijian agencies including the navy, police and fisheries.

Mr Tikoduadua said information gathered could be passed on to partner countries and organisations if a vessel left Fiji's jurisdiction.

"If we need partner navies to come take a look, or a commercial vessel to take a look, it gives us that flexibility," he said. 

Levelling the playing field

Mr Tikoduadua has seen the Bluebottles in action.

New Zealand has two which were recently deployed to Fiji during a four-week joint operation.

Associate Professor Jose Sousa-Santos, convenor of the Pacific Regional Security Hub at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, said officials reported the unmanned drones detected more than 100 illegal fishing vessels, many of which had switched off their transponders.

"They did exactly what they were supposed to do," he said.

"They were supported by the New Zealand Air Force and when they identified vessels that raised red flags, they were able to contact the RNZAF to provide further surveillance coverage."

Mr Sousa-Santos said the Bluebottles had the potential to disrupt trafficking operations if they were positioned in zones smugglers regularly operated in.

"It would force them to move to other trafficking routes which might not be as safe or profitable," he said.

A new frontier

Steve Symon, who chaired New Zealand's Ministerial Advisory Group on Transnational, Serious and Organised Crime, said the Bluebottles were a valuable tool.

But he feared the size of the region meant they could only be effective if they were deployed in large numbers.

He added the crime syndicates would probably adapt.

In the short term, Mr Symon said traffickers could rely more heavily on cargo ships and corruption within ports if surveillance drones made their operations more difficult.

But it might only be a matter of time before traffickers started using similar drones, he said.

Criminal syndicates had a powerful incentive to adapt because of the huge demand for illicit drugs in Australia and New Zealand, he said.

"The reason why these [Bluebottle] drones are so good is because they are solar-powered and you can send them out for months at a time.

"But we'd be naive to think organised crime isn't going to be ready adopters of the same technology."

Sharing with Australia

Mr Tikoduadua said data the Bluebottles collected would be shared with partners, including Australia.

Mr Conroy said Australia needed to work with Fiji to stamp out the illicit drug trade, which meant "working together in a coordinated way in terms of intelligence gathering, intelligence sharing and interdiction".

Australian officials did not say whether the Bluebottles in Fiji would be used for anything beyond detecting drug traffickers and illegal fishing, such as monitoring foreign military vessels.

Jennifer Parker, an adjunct professor of defence and security at the University of Western Australia, said she did not believe the drones would have wider strategic implications for Australia's defence.

"Fiji and Australia have a significant defence partnership and we would already share significant information about what is happening in our maritime domains," she said.

"So the employment of Bluebottles to support collection of that kind of information would not be any different to, I suspect, what's already in place."