- Joined
- Mar 3, 2021
BRISBANE, Australia — Australia will accelerate efforts to make missiles for export to the United States and other countries under a plan announced on Saturday by Australian officials.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III are both in Brisbane this weekend for bilateral meetings with Australian officials, focused primarily on expanding and clarifying how the two countries will work together on security in the region.
The gathering comes two years after a landmark deal called AUKUS, which also includes the United Kingdom and aims to build a collaborative mechanism for sharing nuclear-powered submarines and developing other kinds of advanced technology, including hypersonic missiles and quantum computers and sensors. But beyond AUKUS, the two countries have a long history of military collaboration reaching back more than a century to World War I.
For the new missiles, to be built with U.S. defense industry partners, Washington has agreed to fast-track licensing, with production expected to begin in 2025. The Australian government recently set aside $2.7 billion to acquire long-range strike missiles, which would bolster Australian stockpiles and could be exported to the United States or other countries, such as Ukraine. For Australia, it reflects both continuity and what many American and Australian officials have described as a higher level of interdependence among the United States and its allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific.
Military analysts said the missile news reflected a growing realization that the defense industrial base in the United States, struggling to keep up with requests from Ukraine and the U.S. Defense Department, stands to benefit from the manufacturing support of other countries.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III are both in Brisbane this weekend for bilateral meetings with Australian officials, focused primarily on expanding and clarifying how the two countries will work together on security in the region.
The gathering comes two years after a landmark deal called AUKUS, which also includes the United Kingdom and aims to build a collaborative mechanism for sharing nuclear-powered submarines and developing other kinds of advanced technology, including hypersonic missiles and quantum computers and sensors. But beyond AUKUS, the two countries have a long history of military collaboration reaching back more than a century to World War I.
For the new missiles, to be built with U.S. defense industry partners, Washington has agreed to fast-track licensing, with production expected to begin in 2025. The Australian government recently set aside $2.7 billion to acquire long-range strike missiles, which would bolster Australian stockpiles and could be exported to the United States or other countries, such as Ukraine. For Australia, it reflects both continuity and what many American and Australian officials have described as a higher level of interdependence among the United States and its allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific.
Military analysts said the missile news reflected a growing realization that the defense industrial base in the United States, struggling to keep up with requests from Ukraine and the U.S. Defense Department, stands to benefit from the manufacturing support of other countries.