Australia to boost missile stockpiles, citing US-China rivalry

Australia said it will establish domestic manufacture of artillery ammunition with France’s Thales, and guided rocket systems with Lockheed Martin, to boost its weapons stockpiles and export to security partners including the United States.

Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said in a speech on Wednesday that Australia was boosting its missile defence and long-range strike capability.

“Why do we need more missiles? Strategic competition between the United States and China is a primary feature of Australia’s security environment,” he told the National Press Club in Canberra.

China test fired an intercontinental ballistic missile in September that travelled more than 11,000km to land in the Pacific Ocean to Australia’s northeast.

Conroy did not mention the Chinese test in his speech, but said the Indo-Pacific was on the cusp of a new missile age, where missiles are also “tools of coercion”.