The US is considering using the Cocos Islands to launch unmanned surveillance aircraft. The Cocos (Keeling) Islands is a territory belonging to Australia made up of two flat, coral atolls and 27 coral islands of which two, west Island and Home Island are inhabited with a population of around 600. The Washington Post today reports “US and Australian officials said the atoll could be an ideal site not only for manned US surveillance aircraft but for Global Hawks, an unarmed, high-attitude surveillance drone.”
Prime Minister Julia Gillard did not deny the reports and said "Look, I'm not going to
play a rule-in, rule-out game about something that's been discussed at officials
level," she said. This morning Defence
Minister Stephen Smith told AM that the Cocos airstrip would need to be upgraded
to be able to launch the drones and stressed that it was "very much a long-term
prospect".
Stephen Smith said the US
and Australia were looking at “three priorities” - the basing of US Marines in
Darwin; greater air traffic through northern Australia and in the longer term,
American access to the Navy’s HMAS Stirling base in Perth. The Cocos Island
strategy was a long term prospect and should be treated as
such.
There is a suggestion
that the US is considering the Cocos Islands because its lease on Diego Garcia
has almost expired.
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