At the request of the Gulf nations, Australia has deployed an E-7A Wedgetail to the Gulf to help protect and defend Australians and other civilians.
The Wedgetail and supporting ADF personnel will provide long-range reconnaissance capability to help secure airspace above the Gulf. They will be deployed for an initial four weeks.
The Australian Government will also provide advanced medium range air-to-air missiles to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
There are about 115,000 Australians in the Middle East region. Of those, about 24,000 are in the UAE.
In a joint statement issued on March 10, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles said they would continue to work on contingencies to keep Australians safe and to help travellers leave the Middle East.
"We have already sent DFAT personnel to the region as part of crisis response teams. They are on the ground providing consular support," they said.
"More than 2600 Australians have now returned home but significant challenges remain and further work is underway to support those still seeking to leave."
For more information, see the media release here.
