APEC Security Again Takes to the Air – Mapping of APEC Locations

APEC security preparations will receive a further boost as mapping gets underway from the skies around locations in Papua New Guinea that will host APEC meetings.
The Papua New Guinea National Mapping Bureau, with the support of the Royal Australian Air Force, have begun the task of mapping the country’s main centres in support of APEC security operations.
“It is essential that security agencies have access to recent imagery of all areas where Leaders, Ministers and delegates will be during their APEC visit,” said Christopher Hawkins, CEO of the APEC Papua New Guinea 2018 Co-ordination Authority.
“The Prime Minister and APEC Minister has made it clear that while we will have a very relaxed and Pacific style of APEC when it comes to hospitality, there will be no relaxation when it comes to security,” Mr Hawkins said.
“We thank our security partners from the RAAF for their support to the National Mapping Bureau to strengthen this important area of security preparedness.”
Piloting the aircraft that will undertaking the mapping is Squadron Leader Michael Bannerman and his crew.
“The Australian Government is here to make help the Papua New Guinea government has the latest possible maps,” Squadron Leader Bannerman noted.
“We fly the 38 Squadron Beech King Air 350, that is fitted with the state-of-the--art imagery equipment that has the capacity to take images from the air, right down to 10 centimetres on ground.
“We are also going to be taking members of Papua New Guinea Defence force and Government up in the air aircraft to demonstrate how the system operates, and the imagery and mapping data that can be obtained.
“This is a good collaborative effort between the two Governments to make sure that we can provide a positive APEC outcome in the future.”