Defence Minister Richard Marles says hypersonic missiles are the new tech to ‘reshape’ the ADF
The Australian Defence Force will be “reshaped” with new tech including missiles that can travel up to 25 times the speed of sound.
National
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Australia’s AUKUS submarine will be armed with hypersonic missiles able to travel up to 25 times the speed of sound in what Defence Minister Richard Marles has declared heralded the “reshaping” of the Australian Defence Force.
The merits of the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine was launched directly on the military today as Mr Marles together with Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy addressed a forum of serving and civilian personnel who will bring the AUKUS pact to reality.
Many of those attending were from the Garden Island Fleet Base East on Sydney Harbour while others had travelled from Defence headquarters in Canberra.
Mr Marles said AUKUS was not just about the nuclear-powered Virginia class submarine we will get in the 2030s nor just the SSN AUKUS submarine that will be developed in the 2040s.
But he said it was about further pillars the AUKUS pact would bring and their hi-tech that will revolutionise the ADF.
“It is a reshaping of the defence force,” Mr Marles said in his address.
The US Defence Department today confirmed a potential sale of up to 220 Tomahawk missiles to Australia valued at more than $1.3bn which could potentially be fired from vertical tubes on our new submarines with an effective range of 1500 km.
The audience heard hypersonic missiles and also underwater drones was also expected to feature on the SSN AUKUS submarine.
“There is an urgency here … hypersonics is a technology that we need to be working on in a range of contexts but that is a capability that we and our friends in America need to have as soon as possible, AI, quantum, undersea warfare beyond the submarine these are all really profoundly important technologies,” he said.
On the question of whether there would be an east coast base for the submarines, with HMAS Stirling in WA currently penning all Australia’s sub, Mr Marles said abolsutely.
He said there was both a strategic operational need for one on the east coast, and recognised Port Kembla was a leading contender, and also a personnel one to have a base closer to the larger population to grow submariner ranks. He said it would not need to be operational until the 2030s so no decision had yet been made.
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