Australia announces $4.7 billion purchase of US air defense missiles

Australia announced this week it was buying $4.7 billion in American-made SM-2 and SM-6 missiles — two of the world’s most advanced air defense interceptors — in a colossal foreign military sale.

The two governments finished the deal this spring but unveiled it Tuesday, Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said. He declined to give specific delivery numbers or a schedule, only saying that the funding would last for a decade.

“There was a strong view we needed to both upgrade the capability of air defense, but also increase the numbers of missiles we’re holding,” Conroy said in an interview while visiting Washington.

Missile defense is one of the top priorities listed in Australia’s 2024 defense strategy, published this April, which name drops the SM-6. In the plan, the government pledged to double its number of major warships and build a firmer defense industry of its own — as the country, like America, accepts competition with China as the norm.

Canberra’s defense budget, published a month after in May , committed a record $37 billion, or just over 2% of GDP, toward its military. The government aims to reach 2.3% of GDP, right now around $67 billion, by 2033-2034.

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, can provide an anti-ship weapon. The American missile company Raytheon manufactures both, which have a medium and long range respectively.

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

Australia became the first country outside America to fire the SM-6 from a warship this August, when the HMAS Sydney shot one during a military drill near Hawaii. The Pentagon’s proposed fiscal year 2025 budget requests 125 of the missiles for its own stocks.

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

While in Washington, Conroy met with the deputy secretary of defense and heads of the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, where they discussed work between the two defense industries and progress on the AUKUS agreement between Australia, the U.S. and Great Britain — a deal to share nuclear-powered submarines and advanced technology.

Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.

澳大利亚本周宣布，将斥资 47 亿美元购买美国制造的 SM-2 和 SM-6 导弹——这是世界上最先进的两种防空拦截导弹——这是一笔规模巨大的对外军售。

澳大利亚国防工业部长帕特·康罗伊表示，两国政府于今年春季达成协议，但直到周二才正式公布。他拒绝透露具体的交付数量或时间表，只表示资金将持续十年。

康罗伊在访问华盛顿期间接受采访时表示：“我们强烈认为，我们既需要提升防空能力，也需要增加我们拥有的导弹数量。”

导弹防御是澳大利亚今年4月发布的2024年国防战略中的首要任务之一，该战略中提到了SM-6导弹。在该计划中，澳大利亚政府承诺将其主要军舰的数量增加一倍，并建立更强大的国防工业——因为澳大利亚和美国一样，都将与中国的竞争视为常态。

堪培拉于5月公布的国防预算案中，承诺向军方投入创纪录的370亿澳元，约占GDP的2%。政府的目标是到2033-2034财年将军费开支占GDP的2.3%（目前约为670亿澳元）。

此次军售包括SM（标准导弹）Block IIIC和Block 6，这两款导弹将帮助澳大利亚防御先进导弹袭击，其中Block 6还可作为反舰武器。这两款导弹均由美国雷神公司制造，分别属于中程和远程导弹。

康罗伊说：“远程防空、反舰打击能力……以及通过末端弹道导弹防御系统赋予我们首次防御弹道导弹的能力，这对我们的海军来说是一个巨大的进步。”

今年8月，澳大利亚成为除美国以外首个从军舰上发射SM-6导弹的国家。当时，澳大利亚皇家海军“悉尼”号护卫舰在夏威夷附近的一次军事演习中发射了一枚SM-6导弹。五角大楼提出的2025财年预算案要求为其储备125枚该型导弹。

美国陆军今年还将其SM-6导弹作为部署到菲律宾的中程导弹发射器的一部分，这一任务激怒了中国。

在华盛顿期间，康罗伊会见了国防部副部长以及美国陆军、海军和空军的负责人，他们讨论了两国国防工业之间的合作以及澳大利亚、美国和英国之间的 AUKUS 协议的进展情况——这是一项共享核动力潜艇和先进技术的协议。

诺亚·罗伯逊是《防务新闻》的五角大楼记者。他此前曾为《基督教科学箴言报》报道国家安全新闻。他拥有弗吉尼亚州威廉斯堡威廉与玛丽学院的英语和政治学学士学位。