Australia plans to launch the production of guided missiles by 2025

Australia plans to launch its own production of guided missiles within the next two years, two years sooner than expected.

The decision was made as part of a wide-ranging shakeup of defense arrangements to focus on long-range strike capability, Reuters reports.

Recently, the country’s government said it had accepted the recommendations of a defense review that outlined that China had launched the biggest military build-up of any country since World War II and was doing so covertly.

This creates a “potential for conflict” in the Indo-Pacific.

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said in an interview with Channel Nine that the timetable for the domestic manufacture of guided weapons, originally set for 2027, will be hastened to within two years.

A$ 2.5 billion will be allocated to implement the project. This will more than double the production funding. Additional money will be redirected from other projects.

“That does radically shift the timeframe forward in terms of a manufacturing capability,” Marles said in an interview.

In addition, A$1.6 billion will be spent to purchase long-range strike systems. Foreign companies will implement these agreements within two years.

It is also reported that the Australian government has been in talks with missile manufacturers Raytheon and Lockheed Martin about establishing production in Australia.

It has also agreed on the purchase of NSM missiles from the Norwegian company Kongsberg.

Pat Conroy, Minister for Defence Industry, noted that the deal would “allow us to look at manufacturing the Strike Missile family of missiles in Australia”.

The country will work more closely with its security ally, the United States, while boosting diplomacy in the region to deter conflict and step up defense ties with India, Japan, South East Asian nations, and the Pacific islands.

In mid-March, the U.S. Department of State approved the potential sale of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Australia.

The estimated value of the missiles and related hardware, logistics, software, and maintenance is $895 million.

The Australian government has asked the US to purchase 200 Tomahawk Block V cruise missiles and 20 Block IV missiles.