Recently on the Courier Mail:
Stupid of me to think they'd actually want to use this to stop illegal activites!
CUSTOMS officials want to be able to fire weapons from helicopters to better protect Australia's borders and fishing grounds.
The capacity to shoot from the air will be part of the Rapid Response Helicopter Service the Australian Customs Service plans to launch in January, The Australian newspaper reports today.
Tender documents say the helicopter will "enhance Australia's fisheries and maritime surveillance, compliance and enforcement arrangements in Northern Australia".
But officials have ruled out following the example of US customs, which uses sharpshooters in helicopters to disable the engines of illegal vessels.
Customs officers would only be able to fire at feral animals that come onto mainland Australia from illegal fishing vessels, a Customs spokesman said.
"If a foreign fishing vessel brought with it a feral animal that was considered to be a quarantine risk ... then we would need to have the capability to destroy that animal," the spokesman told the newspaper.
Customs has called for companies to tender for the Rapid Response Helicopter Service, which would be on standby at Gove in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.