Australia to ramp up missile production as Indo-Pacific enters new ‘missile age’
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Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said Australia needs not only to acquire more missiles, but also to “make more here at home”.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SYDNEY – Australia said it was boosting its missile defence capability amid “significant concerns” about China’s test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the South Pacific and will bolster weapons stockpiles and exports to security partners as the region enters a new “missile age”.
Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said in a speech on Oct 30 that Australia was increasing its missile defence and long-range strike capability and would cooperate with security partners, the US, Japan and South Korea, to contribute to regional stability.
“Why do we need more missiles? Strategic competition between the United States and China is a primary feature of Australia’s security environment,” he told the National Press Club in Canberra.
China test-fired an ICBM in September
Mr Conroy said the Indo-Pacific was on the cusp of a new missile age, where missiles are also “tools of coercion”.
“We expressed significant concern about that ballistic missile test, especially its entry into the South Pacific given the Treaty of Rarotonga that says the Pacific should be a nuclear-weapons-free-zone,” he told reporters in response to a question.
Australia was deploying SM-6 missiles on its navy destroyer fleet to provide ballistic missile defence, he added.
Earlier in October, Australia announced a A$7 billion (S$6 billion) deal with the US
Australia has previously said it would spend A$74 billion on missile acquisition and missile defence over the next decade, including A$21 billion to fund the Australian Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Enterprise, a new domestic manufacturing capability.
“We must show potential adversaries that hostile acts against Australia would not succeed and could not be sustained if conflict were protracted,” Mr Conroy said in the speech.
Australia will spend A$316 million to establish local manufacture of guided multiple launch rocket systems (GMLRS), in partnership with Lockheed Martin, to produce the rapidly deployable, surface-to-surface weapons for export, from 2029.
The factory will be capable of producing 4,000 GMLRS a year, or a quarter of current global production, Mr Conroy said.
France’s Thales will establish Australian manufacturing of 155mm M795 artillery ammunition, used in howitzers, at an Australian government-owned munitions facility in the small Victorian city of Benalla.
It will be the first dedicated forge outside of the US, with production starting in 2028, and the capacity to scale up to produce 100,000 rounds a year.
The war in Ukraine used 10,000 rounds of 155mm artillery shells a day in 2023, outstripping European production, Mr Conroy said.
“In a world marked by supply chain disruption and strategic fragility, Australia needs not only to acquire more missiles but (also) to make more here at home,” he said.
In August, Australia said it would jointly manufacture long-range naval strike missiles and joint strike missiles with Norway’s Kongsberg Defence in the city of Newcastle on Australia’s eastern coast, the only site outside of Norway.
Australia’s navy will also have Tomahawk missiles, with a range of 2,500km, by the end of 2024, increasing the fleet’s weapons range tenfold. REUTERS
