Defence Minister concedes Australian surveillance plane is feeding intelligence to US and Israel

A high-tech Australian military surveillance plane deployed to the Middle East is providing valuable data to a United States run military operation centre which is coordinating strikes against Iran.

Last week the Albanese government announced the deployment of the Royal Australian Air Force’s E-7A Wedgetail aircraft to the Middle East to help defend gulf states from Iranian missile and drone attacks.

Defence Minister Richard Marles has now confirmed information collected by the E-7A Wedgetail is being processed by the Combined Air Operations Centre, a facility which provides the command and control of airpower for the Pentagon’s Central Command.

Speaking after high level talks with New Zealand’s Foreign and Defence Ministers, Mr Marles insisted the RAAF aircraft was operating in the Middle East in a “defensive capacity”.

“The deployment of the E-7 Wedgetail is at the behest of the United Arab Emirates, and it is very much for defence of the countries of the Gulf, in particular the UAE,” Mr Marles told reporters in Canberra.

Pointing to the large Australian expat community in the UAE, as well as the ADF’s presence at the Al Minhad air base, the defence minister said the government believed it was “very much in our national interest to be providing this support”.

“It is there in a defensive capacity. To be clear, the information that it is able to obtain is being coordinated through the Combined Air Operations Centre based in Qatar, which obviously involves the United States.

“And that’s really important in terms of coordinating all the integrated defensive measures that can be done for the countries of the Gulf and for the UAE.”

Asked if anything could be done to “ringfence” data collected by Australia from being used by the United States and Israel in its offensive operations against Iran, Mr Marles again stressed the RAAF was operating in a “defensive capacity”.

“It is information which flows through the Combined Air Operations Centre based in Qatar, which America is a part of, and that’s because you are talking about a coordinated air defence of the countries of the Gulf,” he added.

“And so that is the way in which this capability is operating but it is there in a defensive capacity to provide for the defence of the countries of the Gulf.”

The Albanese government says the basis of the RAAF’s mission is to detect incoming threats over the Gulf and help protect that airspace, particularly for the UAE.

However, critics of the government’s decision to deploy the E-7A Wedgetail to the Middle East, and to supply medium-range air-to-air missiles to the UAE, claim it’s proof Australia has been dragged into “another US forever war”.

Earlier on Tuesday Mr Marles said Australia would consider any request from the United States for military assistance in the Strait of Hormuz but insisted no direct approach had yet been made from Washington.

On Monday the Albanese government confirmed it would not be sending a warship to the region after President Donald Trump urged allies to help the United States protect the crucial shipping passage from Iranian strikes.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has also acknowledged the US led attacks on Iran were adding pressure on the government to spend more on defence as it finalises the May budget.

“There are always pressures to spend more in defence, and we take them seriously, particularly at a time when the global environment is so uncertain. I’m obviously not going to front run any of those discussions,” Dr Chalmers told reporters.