Australian BAMS withdrawal 'not based on finances', says government source

The Australian government has rejected suggestions that economic pressures forced it to cancel its participation in the US Navy-led Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) programme.

A government source told Jane's on 3 March that the decision not to proceed with the project - which would have provided Australia with a maritime unmanned surveillance system based on the Global Hawk umanned aerial vehicle - was "driven by personnel issues".

The project was worth between AUD1.1 billion and AUD1.5 billion (USD679 million and USD950 million).

"Despite media reports suggesting otherwise, I can assure you that this decision was not a result of the economic crisis," said the source. "If the Royal Australian Air Force had said that the project was manageable, then it is probable that we would have continued. But that wasn't the case."

In announcing the decision on 2 March, a statement by the Australian Department of Defence (DoD) said that delays in the BAMS programme meant that the earliest in-service date was 2015.

Image: The Global Hawk forms the basis of BAMS (Jane's/Patrick Allen) 162 of 470 words