Australia will give Fiji its own Bluebottle uncrewed surface vessels, with the first due to arrive in early 2027, the government announced in Sydney on 16 October 2026. Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said the Royal Australian Navy was already operating 15 of the Australian-built sea drones and was taking delivery of 40 more, according to the transcript of his press conference.
The vessels for Fiji will be sovereign Fijian assets, Conroy said, and whether Fiji's navy or its police operate them will be Fiji's decision. He declined to say how many Fiji will receive.
A gift under a new alliance
The Bluebottles are being provided under the Waqa Moana partnership, a Pacific-led initiative against organized crime and drug trafficking, and follow the Ocean of Peace Treaty that Australia and Fiji signed in July, Australian Associated Press reported. The treaty is Australia's fourth mutual defense alliance after those with the United States, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, and Fiji's first. Australia pledged A$600 million at the Pacific Islands Forum in September to help implement Waqa Moana.
The 40 additional navy vessels are not new: the government signed a A$176 million agreement in March to buy them, which will take the navy's fleet to 55. The announcement coincided with the opening of a new Sydney manufacturing hub for Ocius, the company that builds them. "This Bluebottle partnership demonstrates how Australian innovation can deliver real-world outcomes," Defense Minister Richard Marles said.
What a Bluebottle does
A Bluebottle is a small, sail-and-solar-powered vessel that can stay at sea for more than 180 days without a crew, carrying sensors for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Conroy linked the Fiji vessels to border protection and to stopping drug shipments across the southwest Pacific, where small island states police enormous exclusive economic zones with a handful of patrol boats.
Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Matt Buckley said the vessels can be moved by aircraft or ship and remain on station for long periods; Conroy described sensors able to detect both surface vessels and submarines. The navy has used its own Bluebottles from HMAS Coonawarra in Darwin for border security.
For Fiji, the practical gain is persistent watch over sea lanes that traffickers use between South America and Australia, without the fuel and crewing costs of a conventional patrol. For Australia, it is a visible first deliverable under a treaty signed only three months earlier.
Numbers still to come are the size of Fiji's allocation, the delivery schedule for the navy's 40 and the support arrangements that will keep the vessels at sea. As an arms-sale announcement is not a delivery, the test of this one will be the first Bluebottle operating out of a Fijian port in 2027.