Australia is reaching out to U.S. allies to accelerate a A$1 billion ($761 million) program aimed at establishing a sovereign guided missile program, Bloomberg reported.
“We will work closely with the United States on this important initiative to ensure we understand how our business can best support Australia’s needs and the growing needs of our most important military partner,” Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said in a statement Wednesday.
This follows an agreement signed last November between Australia and the United States to develop and test a prototype hypersonic cruise missile with long-range strike capability.
The agreement is based on the 15-year Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) program, which studies hypersonic scramjets, rocket motors, sensors and advanced manufacturing materials.
The Chinese Communist Party has warned of retaliation against any country that accepts the deployment of U.S. medium-range missiles.
Regional tensions have escalated in recent years as the Chinese Communist Party and Russia have invested heavily in some of the world’s most advanced missile systems, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been modernizing his arsenal.
Photo: The Communist Party’s missile arsenal now covers most of America’s Pacific allies.
In October 2019, Xi Jinping reviewed a variety of weapons in Beijing that are designed to offset U.S. dominance in any conflict, including Dongfeng-17 missiles with hypersonic glide vehicles designed to make warheads nearly impossible to intercept.
Paul Dibb, professor emeritus of strategic and defense studies at the Australian National University in Canberra, said, “The Americans want to invest heavily in advanced missile technology, especially as they realize they are largely catching up “China (the Communist Party) and Russia. “The Chinese (Communist) states have nearly 2,000 theater ballistic missiles, some of which have ranges of up to 3,000 kilometers (1,865 miles) and are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.”
Japan’s Defense Ministry took steps to improve strike capabilities in 2017 when it allocated 2.2 billion yen ($20 million) for the air-to-ground Joint Strike Missile. the fiscal 2020 budget allocates another 13.6 billion yen for the cruise missile, which can be mounted on F-35 warplanes.
“Clear and unmistakable message”
The Nikkei Asian Review reported in August that the U.S. intends to discuss with its Asian allies the deployment of intermediate-range missiles in response to the direct threat of a Communist Party nuclear force build-up. The report quoted U.S. Presidential Arms Control Envoy Marshall Billingsley (Marshall Billingslea) as saying that a medium-range, non-nuclear, ground-launched cruise missile being developed by the United States has the defensive capabilities needed by countries such as Japan.
Earlier this month, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Commander Admiral Davidson said the Chinese Communist military’s coordinated test launch of its top anti-ship ballistic missile in the South China Sea, which is capable of attacking aircraft carriers in the Western Pacific, was a “clear and unmistakable message.
Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said the department was selecting a strategic industry partner to operate the missile program’s manufacturing capabilities, which could lead to export opportunities.
Wednesday’s statement cited estimates by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think tank, that Australia will spend $100 billion on missiles and guided weapons over the next 20 years. The statement did not directly link Australia’s sovereign missile program to the hypersonic cruise missile program announced last November.
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