Australia plans to make guided missiles in two years. In a major defense overhaul to focus on long-range missile capabilities, Australia said on Wednesday that it will start domestically manufacturing guided missiles by 2025, two years earlier than projected.
On Monday, the Labor administration adopted a defense study that warned China had started the greatest military buildup since World War Two. Without transparency, major power competition had “potential for conflict” in the Indo-Pacific.
Defence Minister Richard Marles claimed in media appearances that A$2.5 billion will accelerate domestic guided weapon production from 2027 to two years.
That is more than tripling cash from scrapped defense programs.
“That does radically shift the timeframe forward in terms of manufacturing capability,” Marles told Nine on Wednesday.
He said foreign long-range attack systems would cost A$1.6 billion within two years.
Marles said the government was negotiating with Raytheon (RTX.N) and Lockheed (LMT.N) about manufacturing missiles in Australia.
He added Kongsberg (KOG.OL), the Norwegian maker of the naval attack missile Australia had committed to buy, was also in talks.
Pat Conroy, military industries minister, said the assessment suggested buying Kongsberg’s joint strike missile to “allow us to look at manufacturing the Strike Missile family of missiles in Australia.”
The review stated that Australia would engage more closely with its security ally, the US, while expanding diplomacy to discourage war and strengthen defense relations with India, Japan, South East Asian states, and Pacific islands.
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