Australia will begin producing long-range strike missiles within three years as part of an $850 million plan to make the nation less dependent on importing military equipment from overseas.
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy announced on Thursday that the federal government will partner with Norwegian defence giant Kongsberg to manufacture modern naval strike missiles and joint strike missiles with a range over 275 kilometres near Newcastle in the NSW Hunter Valley.
Australia will begin making its own naval strike missiles after signing a deal with Norwegian defence firm Kongsberg.Credit: Kongsberg
The munitions factory at the Newcastle airport precinct – which is scheduled to open in 2026 and begin manufacturing missiles in 2027 – will be the first of its kind outside Norway.
The project is expected to create 500 jobs in the Hunter Valley and open up opportunities for Australian-made missiles to be exported overseas once the nation has built up a domestic stockpile.
Conroy described the initiative as a “no-brainer that makes Australia safer and creates jobs in Australia”.
“This investment is about keeping Australians safe in an uncertain global environment, creating local jobs and supporting a future made in Australia,” he said.
Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Pat Conroy, Air Marshal Leon Phillips and general manager of Kongsberg Defence Australia John Fry with a model of the naval strike missile in Canberra on Thursday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“I’m absolutely confident that we’ve got the workforce to do this.”
The missiles will be worth around $4 million each, said Air Marshal Leon Phillips, the Australian Defence Force’s chief of guided weapons and explosive ordnance.
The missiles, designed primarily to target ships, will replace the ageing Harpoon missiles on the navy’s Anzac-class frigates and Hobart-class destroyers.
The missiles are among “the most advanced naval strike missiles in the world”, Conroy said.
They can also be fixed to the F-35A strike fighter aircraft and can strike land-based targets.
Kongsberg’s missiles are used by the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Germany and others.
The company describes its naval strike missile as “a fifth-generation, highly capable, long-range, precision strike weapon designed to defeat heavily protected maritime targets in contested environments, with a secondary role for land attack”.
Efforts to create a local missile manufacturing industry have been accelerated by the war in Ukraine, which has highlighted a troubling lack of ammunition stocks in Western nations and the danger of being dependent on a single supply source.
Australia has traditionally imported almost all its missiles from the US.
“This production initiative will create hundreds of jobs and supply chain opportunities, while supporting the government’s priorities by boosting war stocks and becoming increasingly self-reliant,” John Fry, general manager of Kongsberg Defence Australia, said.
The Kongsberg announcement comes on top of a deal announced by the federal government earlier this year with Lockheed Martin to start manufacturing guided multiple launch rocket system (GMLRS) missiles from 2025 in Australia.
The government expects to spend between $16 and $21 billion over the next decade to develop a sovereign ability to produce, maintain, repair and overhaul high-priority weapons.
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