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44 AUSTRALIAN MARITIME ISSUES 2006: SPC-A ANNUAL
nations of South East Asia and especially the South Pacific island states. Australia
has, through assistance and exercises — both bilaterally, with Indonesia, and in the
multilateral context of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), with Malaysia
and Singapore — aided these regional maritime forces in building their capacity for
maritime awareness and patrol operations.
Especially notable is the RAN’s longstanding contribution to maritime capacity building
among the South Pacific island states. Starting in 1985, the Pacific Patrol Boat program
has provided 22 patrol boats (of 31.5 metres each) to 12 recipient states, and recently
began a life extension program for these boats. Australia provided not only the patrol
boats, but also for each country a Maritime Surveillance Advisor, two technical advisors,
through-life logistics and technical support, and in some cases funding for operations
and for shore base facilities. 5 In many ways, Australia’s Pacific Patrol Boat program is
a model of regional maritime capacity building. 6
Lecture delivered at the Australian Defence College on 27 November 2006.
Notes
1
The term ‘maritime forces’ is used deliberately to include not only navy forces performing
more traditional military maritime defence missions, but also national coastguard type forces
addressing civil maritime and maritime law enforcement missions.
2
Restructuring and modernisation of maritime forces has been a complex process, with heavy
impact, even for the US Navy. Since the end of the Cold War, US Navy force levels have been
reduced by over 225,000 naval personnel, 121 surface combat ships and submarines, three
aircraft carriers, and dozens of naval bases and facilities.
3
For a brief historical summary, see US Department of State, ‘Background Note: Albania, Bureau
of European and Eurasian Affairs’, October 2006,
4
The Military Strategy of the Republic of Albania, July 2002; an updated version (May
2005) can be found at .
Republic of Albania Assembly, Law Nr 8875, dated 4.4.2002, Establishment of Coast Guard,
5
‘The Pacific Patrol Boat Project’, Semaphore, No. 2, Sea Power Centre – Australia, Canberra,
February 2005.
6
Dr S. Bateman, ‘Developing a Pacific Island Ocean Guard: the need, the possibility and the
concept’ in Ivan Malloy (ed), The Eye of the Cyclone: Issues in Pacific Security, PIPSA and the
University of the Sunshine Coast Press, Sippy Downs, 2004, pp. 208-224. Dr Bateman goes
on to identify how the Pacific Patrol Boat program — enhanced by aerial surveillance and a
few longer-range patrol ships — could provide a true ‘Pacific Island Ocean Guard’.