Australia will start making long-range missiles from next year with the Federal Government signing a $37 million contract with a US defence contractor to “prove up our capability”.
Acting Defence Minister Pat Conroy said the contract with Lockheed Martin would help the nation set up its first large-scale domestic missile manufacturing.
The missiles will initially be assembled in Sydney and be undertaken by Lockheed Martin employees before the Government establishes a purpose-built facility for the long-term aspiration of manufacturing the weapons.
The location of that building has not yet been chosen.
“We live in the missile age,” Mr Conroy said.
“We’re facing the greatest arms race in our region since 1945 and we’re facing strategic uncertainty at levels not seen for some time.”
The Government has also acquired strike missiles, which can hit targets out to 500km and are designed to attack heavily defended enemy targets far behind the front line.
It is part of the Commonwealth’s commitment to spend $4.1 billion over four years to transform the Australian Defence Force into a more lethal force by making it capable of mounting missile strikes from land.
About $1.6 billion of that is being spent to purchase the long-range missiles and $2.5 billion is going towards manufacturing them in Australia, which will see the army’s weapons range go from 40km to 500km.
This is one of six initial priorities of the Defence Strategic Review — which was released last year.
The other priorities include submarines, bringing new technology from innovation to reality, strengthening the northern bases, boosting ADF personnel and building relationships in the Pacific region to respond to China’s military expansion.
Mr Conroy said the investment in strike missiles and domestic guided weapons manufacturing would protect the nation and its interests.
“This is part of the Albanese Labor Government’s commitment to investing in the defence of our nation and meeting the strategic urgency that we face at the current time,” he said.
“People just have to look around the world to see that there’s a number of countries that are intent on breaching the rules-based international order.”
Federal Labor also last year announced a $3.8 billion investment over four years to beef up the nation’s northern air bases, including Curtin and Learmonth, so they are well-stocked with missiles.
Learmonth will share in $2 billion for critical upgrades of runways, fuel storage and supply, and security.
The northern bases were only been agreed in principle by the Government last year, despite the Defence Strategic Review recommending that work should commence immediately.