Guided missile production ‘within two years’ despite an another review after the release of the Defence Strategy Review

Minister for Defence Richard Marles is ‘confident’ Australia can begin to produce guided missiles within two years as industry partners Lockheed Martin and Raytheon are ready to get to work.

Defence Minister Richard Marles in Canberra on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Minister for Defence Richard Marles is “confident” Australia can begin to produce guided missiles within two years, despite a fresh review of the planned initiative three years after it was first announced.

The Australian understands Defence’s industry partners, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, are ready to get to work on the guided weapons and explosive ordinance plan as soon as the government makes a decision on what missiles it wants to produce.

The Defence Strategic Review, released on Monday, revealed the commissioning of an options paper on the so-called GWEO enterprise, due to be handed to the government in the second quarter of 2024.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said on Wednesday a “concrete plan” to progress the initiative would be delivered to the government by “early next year”, allowing the manufacturing of missiles to start in the first half of 2025.

Monday’s strategic blueprint called for a new assessment process to determine the government’s missile needs.

“Options for the increase of guided weapons and explosive ordnance stocks, including the rapid establishment of domestic manufacturing, should be provided to the government by Q2 2024,” the review said, followed by the government’s response – “Agreed”.

One of the key elements of a domestic missile industry will be the ability to produce the rocket fuel ingredient ammonium perchlorate at scale.

“To produce missiles here, you need an ammonium perchlorate production facility in Australia. There isn’t one at the moment,” a defence industry source said.

“It’s a sensitive material and it won’t be simple to set up a plant.”

Australia must also determine which missile components it will build domestically, and which will be imported.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said the new GWEO review had “introduced another year of delay and uncertainty for industry”.

The Defence Minister, who announced $2.5bn on Wednesday to accelerate the GWEO enterprise, said Labor’s approach was in stark contrast to that of the former government. “What we inherited was a set of announcements here without any significant allocation of money,” Mr Marles said. “What was proposed (by the Coalition) was the possibility of seeing manufacturing start in relation to guided weapons in 2027.

“That is too far into the future. The $2.5bn that we are putting on the table today … is a complete game-changer in Australia being able to enter the manufacture of guided weapons in the future. And we anticipate being able to do that within the next couple of years.”

Developing Australia’s industrial base to produce guided weapons was essential to building the ADF’s weapons stocks, amid global shortages of key missile types due to the war in Ukraine, he said.

“This is the government acting with pace from the moment that the DSR and the government’s response to it was announced on Monday,” he said.