Australia’s Military R&D Spending Trails UK, Japan: Researcher

Australia currently commits 2.73 percent of defence budget to R&D, compared to 5.8 percent in Japan, 3.9 percent in the UK, and 17 percent in the US.

A Royal Australian Air Force's F/A-18F Super Hornet fires a mock missle in Avalon, Australia, on Feb. 28, 2023. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

Australia’s spending on military research and development still lags behind other nations, according to university researchers.

Chris Mills, director of the Defense Research Institute at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), said the Defence Department committed just 2.73 percent of its budget to innovation and research in the current financial year, up from 2.6 percent last year.