Australia announced purchase of US air defense missiles worth $4.7 billion

This week Australia announced it was buying US SM-2 and SM-6 missiles – two of the world’s most advanced air defense interceptors – for $4.7 billion. This is a colossal foreign military deal.

The two governments finalized the agreement this spring but made it public on Tuesday, Australian Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said. He declined to give specific numbers or a delivery schedule, saying only that the funding would last for ten years.

“There was a strong view that we needed to not only increase our air defense capabilities, but also increase the number of missiles we had,” Conroy said in an interview during a visit to Washington.

Missile defense is one of the top priorities listed in Australia’s Defense Strategy 2024, published in April this year, which does not have SM-6 in its title. In this regard, the government has pledged to double the number of large warships and build a stronger domestic defense industry – as the country, like America, accepts competition with China as the norm.

Canberra’s defense budget, released a month later in May, allocated a record $37 billion to the military, or just over 2% of GDP. The government aims to reach 2.3% of GDP, currently around $67 billion, by 2033-34.

The SM, or Standard Missile, Block IIIC and 6 included in the sale will help Australia defend against advanced missile attacks and, in the case of the latter, could become an anti-ship weapon. The American missile company Raytheon produces both medium and long range missiles respectively.

“This combination of long-range air defense, anti-ship strike capability … and giving us our first capability to defend against ballistic missiles with terminal missile defense was a huge step forward for our Navy,” Conroy said.

Australia became the first country outside America to fire an SM-6 from a warship in August this year when HMAS Sydney shot down one during a military exercise off Hawaii. The Pentagon’s proposed fiscal year 2025 budget calls for 125 missiles for its own stockpile.

The Army also adopted the SM-6 as part of its medium-range missile launcher that was deployed to the Philippines this year, a mission that has irritated China.

While in Washington, Conroy met with the Deputy Secretary of Defense and leaders of the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, where they discussed work between the two defense industries and progress on the Australia-U.S.-U.K. AUKUS Agreement, a deal. exchange nuclear submarines and advanced technologies.