Australia has started manufacturing missiles for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) at a purpose-built facility near Newcastle Airport, where it maintains its fleet of F-35 fighter aircraft.
Construction is expected to begin later this year.
To date, Kongsberg is the only non-American company to be accepted as a strategic partner in the Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Enterprise. The other partners are Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.
The GWEO is “backed by a commitment of up to $21 billion over the coming decade” through the Labor government’s 2024 Integrated Investment Program, according to a statement announcing the partnership.
Minister for Defence Procurement Pat Conroy said the government will contribute up to $850 million (US$572 million) to help build and operate the factory, which is expected to employ about 100 people. The construction phase is expected to cost around $200 million.
“This is about investing in our advanced, high-tech manufacturing industry and developing our sovereign defence industrial base in areas which have been identified as strategic priorities, which in turn means we can accelerate capability delivery to the Australian Defence Force,” Conroy said.
The managing director of Kongsberg Defence Australia, John Fry, said the new facility will bring “a new strategic capability to Australia, creating hundreds of jobs, and offering a unique opportunity for the Hunter region to become the hub for manufacturing these important high-technology defence capabilities.”
The factory will manufacture both Naval Strike Missiles (NSMs) and Joint Strike Missiles (JSMs)—it is the only factory outside of Kongsberg, Norway, capable of doing so.
NSMs are already onboard some RAN ANZAC-class frigates and the HMAS Sydney, which has conducted test-fires—the missile has a range of 322 kilometres (200 miles)—in July this year.
Over the next few months, they will be introduced across Australia’s Hobart-class destroyers and ANZAC-class frigates, replacing the Harpoon.
The navies of Japan, Malaysia, and the United States all use Naval Strike Missiles, so manufacturing them in Australia will mean a shorter supply chain.
JSMs and NSMs are fifth-generation subsonic weapons that are almost four metres long and have in-built sensors and autonomous targeting recognition, making them effective for long-range precision strikes against ships and land-based targets.
Each one costs over $2 million (US$1.34 million).
The RAAF has considered outfitting its F-35A fighter jets with JSMs, and now that Defence is investing in bringing its production onshore, that will likely happen. Australia first expressed interest in the JSM in 2014.
The Joint Strike Missile is a key weapon for the F-35, which carries it internally. This means the aircraft can maintain its advanced stealth characteristics until firing. Current or future users of F-35s in the Indo-Pacific include Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States.
The factory will be built on land owned by Newcastle Airport, which is developing a defence and aerospace business park at Williamtown called Astra Aerolab. The airport is jointly owned by the Newcastle and Port Stephens councils.
