Australia to manufacture guided missiles, US forces to ramp up Top End presence
America’s presence in Northern Australia is set to grow, with the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announcing more military personnel will be operating out of the region, while also revealing Australia has been given the green light to manufacture its own long-range missiles.
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US military activity will ramp up along the Northern Territory coastline, with more American bombers and fighter jets set to operate out of the Top End as early as next year, while long-range guided missiles will also be manufactured domestically in an effort to bolster the nation’s northern defences.
Last week in Maryland, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong to discuss the Indo-Pacific, including how to enhance the Top End’s strategic role.
After their discussions, Mr Austin confirmed the US would upgrade “critical air bases” across the Northern Territory, but also put more boots on the ground.
“We’re also increasing the presence of rotational US forces in Australia, and all this will mean more maritime patrol aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft operating from bases across northern Australia,” he said.
“It will also mean more frequent rotational bomber deployments.”
Mr Austin did not say how many more troops would be deployed to Australia or when.
In addition to reinforcements, Mr Austin announced long-range missiles would also be manufactured in Australia.
“By the end of the year, we’re aiming to sign two memorandums of understanding on critical munitions – the first supports manufacturing Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, or GMLRS, in Australia by 2025,” he said.
“The second advances the co-production, co-sustainment, and co-development of a Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM, and as we accelerate our work together on PrSM, we agreed to stand up a joint program office in early 2025.
“Together, these efforts will help ensure that we have the capability and the capacity that we’ll need for decades to come.”
In 2022, the Australian government committed to acquiring long-range strike systems and domestically manufacture long-range munitions after evidence from the Ukrainian-Russian war revealed the severity of stockpile depletion in high-end warfare.
While guided missiles are expected to be manufactured at facilities in Mulwala, New South Wales, and Benalla, Victoria, the exact location of where the missile platforms will be positioned is yet to be revealed.
However, it is understood the missiles will be tied into the government’s vision to deter potential adversaries from Australia’s northern approaches, with the PrSM, which can engage targets out to 500km, shaping as a vital strike capability.
Mr Marles hailed the “groundbreaking” arrangements and welcomed a greater US presence in Australia’s north.
“The presence of American force posture in our nation provides an enormous opportunity to work with our neighbours in the region, and as Penny (Wong, Foreign Affairs Minister) and I move throughout the region and speak to our neighbours, there is genuine appreciation for the contribution that America is making to the stability and the peace of the Indo-Pacific region by its presence in Australia,” he said.
“But what this is doing is allowing us to do a much greater range of activities and operations and exercises with our partners, and we spoke about that today – with Japan, for example, where we’ve committed to doing a much greater amount of trilateral exercises between our three countries, but also doing more maritime domain awareness work, not only with Japan but with the Philippines and with India.”
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Originally published as Australia to manufacture guided missiles, US forces to ramp up Top End presence
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