Maldives Boosts Maritime Security With Turkish Surveillance Drones

The Maldives government is expected to begin operations using the drones within the following week. However, the exact count of drones wasn’t precise, nor were there official confirmations from the Ministry of Defence or the Foreign Ministry of Maldives, the report stated. Within days of signing a defence agreement with China to procure non-lethal weapons, the Maldives acquired drones from Turkey to patrol its large exclusive economic zone, revealed a media report on Saturday.

On his return from China, Mohamed Muizzu, the pro-China President, indicated that the government had been looking to acquire surveillance drones. In the country’s first, Military drones were brought to the Maldives following a deal by the current government with a Turkey-based firm to buy drones to patrol the nation’s waters. The drones were successfully delivered to the Maldives on March 3. The drones are at the Noonu Maafaru International Airport, per Adhadhu, quoting a senior government official involved.

Turkey was the first-ever foreign nation to be visited by Muizzu after he had been sworn in as the President in November. However, the exact number of drones that were acquired from Turkey is still unclear, even as the government official mentioned that the government is trying to commence operations of the drones by next week, it said.

Clarifying that the government has yet to make any official comment about these drones, Adhadhi mentioned that it had, during a press gathering on Wednesday, questioned whether the Maldives would be able to operate the drones. However, the Defence Ministry official denied responding directly and said the work is in progress to enhance the capabilities, per the news portal. It further quoted some social media posts claiming that it was Turkish major Baykar’s TB2 drones and advanced equipment required for the drones delivered to the Maldives.

Earlier in January this year, speaking to reporters at the Velana International Airport on his return following a state visit to China, Muizzu made several claims regarding his country’s defence without mentioning India. Stating that Maldives is not located in the backyard of any nation, he said that although the islands are small, the country is vast with an immense exclusive economic zone spanning nine lakh sq km. Maldives is a country that proudly holds the most significant portion of the ocean. The ocean isn’t the property of any particular nation.

On March 4, Muizzu declared that his nation strives to put a round-the-clock monitoring system in place for the country’s waters this month to ensure it has complete control of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) despite being a large area. Adhadhu also reported that earlier in 2024, the President’s Office had amended the Import Duty Waiver Procedure to allow the President to eliminate import duties on commodities for use by its security services. It explained that this is understood to be an amendment to the existing rules for facilitating the buying of military drones.

Although this is the first time that the Maldives National Defence Force (abbreviated the MNDF) has acquired these drones, the government has not divulged any information.

Adhadhu reported that $37 million was allocated from the state’s contingency budget to buy the drones. The Defence Ministry later said that the government is procuring new platforms and equipment for the MNDF to defend and safeguard the Maldives by sea, road, and air. In Wednesday’s press meeting, the Defence Ministry refused to give details of the deal to buy the drones. Until now, the Foreign Ministry has not shared any information related to the matter.

This development comes ahead of the March 10 deadline that the government of Maldives set for withdrawing India’s military troops from the island country. Earlier in the week, President Muizzu affirmed that no personnel from India, not even in civilian clothing, would be present within the country after May 10.

Muizzu’s statement came through less than a week after India’s civilian team had reached the island country of Maldives to take over the charge of one of the three aviation platforms, ahead of the March 10 deadline that was previously agreed upon by the nations for the withdrawal of India’s military personnel. In 2023, within less than 24 hours after oath-taking as the President, Muizzu requested India formally to withdraw its 88 personnel of its military from the country by March 15, saying that the Maldivian folks had made a solid mandate to ask New Delhi.

Reference: Business Today

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