Australia to use re-fitted luxury jets as next-generation spy planes

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is said to spend up to 70 million U.S dollars in refitting its Gulfstream fleet with surveillance equipment and use them as its next-generation spy planes.

The G550 luxury corporate jets will begin to enter service next year, with the first re-fitted airplanes to be in action by the time the RAAF's current maritime surveillance craft - the P3 Orion - retire from 2018.

A statement from the United States' Defense Department confirms the refit, which will occur in Texas.

"L-3 Communications Mission Integration, Greenville, Texas, has been awarded a 93,632,287 Australian dollar (66.3 million U.S. dollar) firm-fixed price undefinitized contract action task order (1648) for Australia Government G550 aircraft procurement and maintenance," the statement read.

"Work will be performed at Greenville, Texas, and is expected to be complete by Nov. 30, 2017.

"This contract is 100-percent foreign military sales to Australia."

The G550 is a modern luxury jet that is capable of carrying up to 18 passengers and flying more than 12 hours nonstop and over 12,000 kilometers.

Its lightweight body means it has great capability for short-field, high-altitude airports, meaning it could be used to spy on remote locations that aren't fitted with fully operational runways.

Peter Jennings from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said that the Gulfstream, despite its luxury and corporate pedigree, is a perfect fit for the RAAF.

"The Gulfstream is smaller, faster, takes fewer crew so it's cheaper to operate," Jennings told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"Turning this aircraft from a business jet into something that can potentially be used for surveillance and electronic information gathering and I suspect that's the major intent behind this."

Details of the refit will not fully be revealed until the release of the Australian government's defense White Paper, due this year.

Source: XINHUA