Australia’s big defence move amid ‘arms race’

The Albanese government is spending billions of dollars to upgrade Australia’s missile defences, with the defence industry minister warning the country is in a major regional “arms race”.

Pat Conroy unveiled the $7bn commitment in Washington DC on Monday night (local time).

Under the deal, the Royal Australian Navy would be kitted out with American made SM-2 IIIC and SM-6 missiles.

Mr Conroy said the missiles would significantly boost the “lethality” of Australia’s navy.

“Australia is facing the most contested geostrategic environment since the Second World War,” he told reporters.

“This is a $7bn investment in protecting Australia against modern and evolving missile threats.”

He went on to say they are not only “state of the art long range missiles”, but “the best air defence missiles in the world.”

The highly advanced surface-to-air missiles are almost exclusively used by the US, with HMAS Sydney making history in August as the first non-US Navy ship to fire an SM-6.

The sale has already been greenlighted by US politicians.

“We live in the greatest arms race in our region since 1945, with a high degree of strategic uncertainty,” Mr Conroy told reporters.

“You just have to look at the lessons from the Ukraine conflict to understand the importance of air defence and the ability to defend against missile threats.”

He said that many countries “in our region are investing in anti-ship missiles and investing in aircraft to deliver them” and that “these missiles are designed to defeat that”.

The minister did not give a timeline, but said the new missiles would be “progressively deployed” across the Navy’s Hobart-class destroyers.

The move represents Canberra’s latest response to China’s growing assertiveness in the Pacific.

Beijing has been pumping money into anti-ship ballistic missiles arsenal.

Late last month, the Chinese military also tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, the usual delivery system for a nuclear warhead.

Reacting to the missile deal, opposition foreign affairs spokesman said that “achieving greater lethality, capability, long-range assets are all very welcome.”

Though, he stopped short of complimenting the government.

“There are things that the Coalition has been talking about through this course of the parliamentary term, but we’ve been calling for faster, greater, stronger action,” Senator Birmingham told Sky News.

“The defence budget just hasn’t been adjusted by the Albanese government in terms of additional investments, to keep up with the rhetoric or the talk.

“And in relation to these commitments and this announcement, it’s not the announcement that matters.

“It’s how quickly they can be delivered and installed and give us that capability that matters.”