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A Royal Australian Air Force C-27J Spartan transport plane has been deployed to the Solomon Islands during the third instalment of Operation Solania this month.
The C-27J Spartan mobility aircraft has participated in every iteration of Operation Solania in 2025, providing airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability to scour the large maritime area for vessels conducting illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing.
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In the air component of the operation, RAAF’s 35 Squadron was joined by two Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency King Air B200 aircraft, two French Guardians and a P-8 Poseidon from the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
“This crew operated every single day since arriving in country. We’ve identified multiple fishing vessels for analysis by the FFA,” according to Operation Solania 25-3 Australian Contingent Commander Squadron Leader James Champness.
“When you’re out and about doing the job, you can see tangible outcomes for the Pacific Island countries and our partner agencies.
“So, when they were achieving a mission, it was incredibly rewarding and a valuable experience for both the flying crew and the ground crew.”
An Operation Solania mission on board the C-27J involved transiting out to an area dictated to the crew by the FFA Operations Centre.
These areas contained vessels of interest or native marine life, such as tuna or sea cucumber, often subjected to illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing.
Once in the area, the aircraft’s loadmasters communicated with the pilots to identify suspicious activity, then captured images to send back to the FFA for analysis.
Solomon Island Maritime Police and Fisheries were also onboard for every mission, capturing images and gaining experience on how the aircraft contributes to the operation.
35 Squadron loadmaster Corporal Genevieve Forshaw deployed on every mission throughout the two-week operation and described what the missions involved.
“As a loadmaster, we are posted to the observation windows in the cargo compartment to assist the pilots by keeping eyes out for vessels of interest,” Corporal Forshaw said.
“Once a vessel of interest is sighted, we commence what’s known as a rigging run, where it is our responsibility to capture imagery and data for analysis by our partner agencies.
“We are constantly working with the FFA to evolve our operational procedures to suit the needs of our Pacific partners and to ensure continuous improvement for them and ourselves.”
With more than $US300 million of economic benefit lost in the region each year due to these unauthorised fishing activities, Defence says 35 Squadron’s efforts directly contribute to the National Defence Strategy’s goal of building our Pacific partners’ capacity and protecting the region’s resources.
