Australia's 2028 Civil Maritime Surveillance Fleet: What Is Confirmed
Australia has named the operator, fleet size, start date and three long-range aircraft for its next civil maritime surveillance service. The remaining fleet and sensor fit are still undisclosed.
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Updated July 17, 2026
4 min read
Australia has disclosed the broad shape of the fixed-wing service that will follow its current Civil Maritime Surveillance Contract. It has not disclosed the complete aircraft mix, sensor fit or basing plan.
That distinction matters. The public record supports a useful operational picture, but it does not support filling the remaining gaps with platform speculation.
The confirmed contract facts
On 22 May 2026, the Australian Border Force said the Department of Home Affairs had selected Metrea Australia Pty Ltd to provide fixed-wing aerial surveillance across Australia.
The ABF release confirms that:
- the service is scheduled to start on 1 January 2028;
- the contracted fleet will contain 11 fully crewed aircraft;
- it will provide short- and long-range surveillance with national coverage;
- the service is intended to operate 24 hours a day, year round; and
- the stated capability goals include greater range, endurance, sensor performance, operational reach and near real-time information sharing.
The ABF also says transition arrangements are in place to maintain continuity between the present contract and the new service. It does not describe those arrangements in the release.
Four days later, Bombardier announced that it would provide three Global 6500 aircraft for maritime-surveillance missions operated by Metrea for the ABF. Those three aircraft are therefore part of the 11-aircraft service. The public announcements do not identify the other eight aircraft.
Confirmed, inferred and still open
| Question | Public position |
|---|---|
| Who will operate the next fixed-wing service? | Metrea Australia Pty Ltd |
| When is service scheduled to begin? | 1 January 2028 |
| How large is the contracted fleet? | 11 fully crewed aircraft |
| Which aircraft have been named? | Three Bombardier Global 6500s |
| What will the other eight aircraft be? | Not disclosed in the cited public releases |
| What sensors and mission systems will be fitted? | Capability goals are stated; the detailed fit is not disclosed |
| Where will aircraft and crews be based? | Not disclosed in the cited public releases |
| What are the detailed transition milestones? | ABF says arrangements exist; the milestones are not public in the release |
This is the clean line between fact and inference. The Global 6500 announcement confirms a long-range business-jet element. It does not establish that every aircraft will be a jet, that the remaining fleet will use a particular type, or that every mission will use the same operating profile.
Why a mixed mission set is likely
This section is operational inference from the disclosed service goals, not a description of an unpublished fleet plan.
Australia's civil maritime tasking spans short- and long-range surveillance. Transit speed, time on task, low-level handling, sensor geometry, crew workload, fuel reserves, maintenance access and cost per coverage hour do not all point to the same ideal airframe.
The Global 6500 element addresses the long-range end of that problem. A fast, high-endurance platform can reach distant task areas quickly and carry substantial mission equipment. The remaining aircraft may address other parts of the mission set, but the public record is not yet specific enough to say how.
The current contract shows the scale of the operating system
Home Affairs' 2024-25 Corporate Plan describes the current fixed-wing fleet as six Dash 8-202s and four Dash 8-315s. Its performance measure refers to 1,433 planned flying hours and 196 planned fixed-wing missions per month, with both aircraft and crew availability included in the definition of operational availability.
Those figures describe the current arrangement, not the 2028 fleet. They are still useful because they show why the aircraft announcement is only one part of the transition. A national surveillance service also needs trained crews, maintenance capacity, dispatch coverage, mission-system support, data links and a handover plan that works at operating tempo.
What to watch before 2028
The next meaningful disclosures are more specific than another capability slogan:
- the type and role of the other eight aircraft;
- the mission-system integrator and disclosed sensor categories;
- basing, maintenance and sovereign-support arrangements;
- certification and aircraft-modification milestones;
- crew recruitment, training and checking arrangements; and
- how transition readiness will be measured before service begins.
Until those details are published, the defensible summary is narrow: Australia has selected Metrea for an 11-aircraft, crewed civil maritime surveillance service beginning in 2028, and three of those aircraft will be Global 6500s. The rest remains an open procurement and integration story.
