Change of era in boosting nation’s defence systems

Defence Minister Richard Marles is on the right track to acquire a long-distance missile capability to boost Australia’s defences. A new missile system being considered for purchase by the government could protect most of Australia’s Top End from enemy ships with just six Bushmaster-mounted launch units. The mobile Naval Strike Missile launchers could provide coastal defence over ranges of up to 250km and, if necessary in a conflict, be deployed to Pacific islands to cover Australia’s naval approaches. Australia has lagged for years in acquiring missiles and mobile missile launchers. In order to redress the gap, Mr Marles wants new weapons systems to threaten a potential adversary “much further from our shores”, Ben Packham writes on Tuesday. In a speech last month, Mr Marles said: “We must invest in targeted capabilities that enable us to hold potential adversaries’ forces at risk at a distance, and increase the calculated cost of aggression against Australia and its interests.”

Defence acquisitions will be one of the most important national developments in 2023. Decisions by the Albanese government will set the direction of our defence preparedness for decades, at a challenging time when China is engaged in the largest military build-up since World War II. By March, the government’s defence strategic review, led by former defence minister Stephen Smith and former defence chief Angus Houston, is expected to report to the National Security Committee of cabinet on the investments required to support defence preparedness over the coming decade. It will also outline longer-term strategic investments. Decisions on the acquisition and building of nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS pact with the US and Britain are also pending. The security of the project has become a major issue, as we reported on Saturday. Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead, head of Australia’s nuclear submarine taskforce, warned that foreign spy agencies would seek to penetrate the project to target the “crown jewels’’ of US and UK nuclear technology. Australia cannot afford to be seen as the weak security link in the pact, which involves sharing top-secret nuclear technology. As the nuclear-powered submarine project takes shape, Defence has stepped up engagement with the Australian Signals Directorate and Australian Cyber Security Centre to identify and guard against potential foreign threats.

As reported on Tuesday’s front page, the defence strategic review is examining the “StrikeMaster” system, which can launch a pair of ship-killing NSMs over ranges of at least 250km, ­delivering a potent “area denial” capability. StrikeMaster is designed by the Australian subsidiaries of Norway’s Kongsberg Defence and French-owned Thales. Kongsberg has proposed the StrikeMaster to the defence strategic review.

A Defence spokesman told The Australian a land-based maritime strike capability would “contribute to government objectives by substantially increasing the ADF’s ability to deter potential threats”. Based on a map supplied by the ADF showing the passage of Chinese warships through the Timor and Arafura seas and Torres Strait in February, six StrikeMaster units operating from sites in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland could threaten enemy vessels charting a similar course.

The importance of land-based anti-ship missiles was demonstrated by Ukraine in April, when it used mobile missile batteries to sink the Russian cruiser Moskva, the flagship of Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea Fleet.