In the latest move to defend Australia’s maritime security, the government plans to arm forces with anti-ship missiles and advanced targeting radars.
Canberra will allocate up to 74 billion Australian dollars (47 billion U.S. dollars) over the next decade for targeting technology, long-range strike capabilities, missile defense, and the manufacturing of missiles and explosives, according to official speeches and defense planning documents.
Two new types of advanced anti-ship missiles, to be fired from mobile launchers, are currently under evaluation, with a decision expected by 2026.
Future versions of one of the contenders, Lockheed Martin’s Precision Strike Missile, are expected to have a range of up to 1,000 km and could be launched from High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers. Australia has ordered 42 HIMARS launchers from the United States, with the launchers expected to be in service by 2026-27, according to the defense department.
Mick Ryan, a retired Australian army major general, said the new missiles for the Australian army would provide a powerful strike capability and serve as a deterrent to potential adversaries.
“You could put a HIMARS launcher with a maritime strike missile in Sydney and it would have the potential to hit one of those ships,” he said in reference to potential maritime foes.
New long-range missiles have also been ordered for the navy and air force.
This followed the sightings of three Chinese warships—a frigate, a replenishment ship, and one of Beijing’s most potent cruisers—off the Australian coast since late February.
On Feb. 21, commercial flights were diverted after the Chinese warships began a live-fire exercise in the Tasman Sea without notifying Australia or New Zealand.
While Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong met her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi just hours after the exercise, the opposition called for more direct action with Beijing.
“Chinese warships brazenly conducting live-fire exercises off Australia’s coast—right between us and New Zealand—forcing flight diversions, is nothing short of incendiary, dangerous, and unacceptable,” Lincoln Parker, former chair of the Liberal Party’s Defence and National Security Policy Branch, previously told The Epoch Times.
“China has attacked Australian Navy divers, our planes, and now is firing live ordnance in our waters. What’s next?”
Joe Keary, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), said that Beijing’s recent deployment around Australia is unprecedented but not unique.
Australian security officials expect more frequent and stronger visits by Chinese warships to the country’s coast.
“The largest and least transparent military build-up since the Second World War means the [People’s Liberation Army] will be able to operate at greater distances from mainland China, in greater numbers, including into Australia’s immediate seas and skies,” Andrew Shearer, the director-general of national intelligence, told a parliamentary inquiry on Feb. 24.
“This is the furthest south a [People’s Liberation Army Navy] Task Group has operated and at least some of its activities seem designed to be provocative,” he said.
“We judge Beijing intends to normalise this sort of presence, shape the responses of those in the region, and observe and learn from our reactions.”
Keary wrote that monitoring and managing China’s growing naval presence in Australia’s region will place increasing strain on the country’s military for years to come.Reuters contributed to this report.
