Australia’s Guided Weapons and Munitions effort makes progress, but risks remain

A stack of 155mm artillery rounds sit behind the line of AS90 self propelled guns and their Ukrainian operators (UK MoD)

SINGAPORE – Australia’s efforts to develop its sovereign guided weapons manufacturing continues to make progress but risks remain, with two think tanks this year calling for the country to further diversify its sources and take concrete steps to ensure its workforce is in place to support its plans.

The Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) effort, Canberra’s effort to create domestic production for guided missiles, was launched in 2024. According to its 2026 National Defence Strategy (NDS), Australia plans to set aside between 26 and 36 billion Australian dollars ($18.16 to $25.14 billion) in funding for the GWEO, although the NDS and accompanying integrated investment plan did not contain a lot of details into where the funding will be allocated.

So far, the effort has four official partners: the Australian arms of Norwegian firm Kongsberg, French company Thales, and US giants Lockheed Martin, Raytheon. There are also two local companies tapped as “Enterprise and Support Partners” for the program.

The plan has already hit a few milestones, with Australia having test fired locally produced Lockheed’s Guided Multiple Launched Rocket Systems (GMLRS) rockets, found local industry partners to produce GMLRS components, and entered an agreement to develop and produce Precision Strike Missiles.

It will also become the first export customer for the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM), developed and tested an indigenous solid-rocket motor , and will locally manufacture Kongsberg’s Naval Strike Missile and Joint Strike Missile.

The latter two milestones are noteworthy, as the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) noted in April that a large proportion of the munitions being produced under the GWEO are US in origin and that US manufacturers are already struggling to meet demand.

The think-tank echoed Australia’s NDS in supporting Australia’s efforts to diversify its sources of munitions, noting that “South Korea, Britain and Germany offer credible technology transfer pathways for components and complete weapons that could reduce dependence.”

Another Australian think tank also cautioned that workforce shortages in Australia also presents an additional risk to the GWEO effort, and called on the Australian government to take the lead in heading off the issue.

The United States Studies Centre (USSC) at the University of Sydney called Australia’s current industrial workforce planning “largely neglected” in a June report , and called on the Australian government to “address current trends of deferred responsibility, ambiguous demand signals and ad hoc, incremental coordination across industry, state governments and training providers to ensure the success of the GWEO enterprise.”

Noting that Australia’s technical workforce tended to be geographically immobile due to “preference and circumstance”, planning for the siting of GWEO facilities needed to be decided quicker and better coordinated among Australia’s state and federal governments.

“To succeed, there must be moves beyond ad hoc coordination and clear, long-term demand signals necessary to attract and train the specialised talent required for this mission,” said USSC Director of Foreign Policy and Defence Dr Lavina Lee in the report.

Nevertheless, ASPI was upbeat on the program, noting that it “has been hitting milestones on the way to closing capability gaps and building domestic industrial foundations.”

Similarly, the former head of Australia’s GWEO Group, Air Marshal Leon Phillips, said he was proud of what the organization, which has been tasked with overseeing the program, has achieved.

“We’ve focused on deepening our war stocks, enhancing our lethality and reach – particularly long-range strike – and importantly, building domestic manufacturing capability,” he said prior to leaving the post in September.

The latest milestone for GWEO actually came today, during the Land Forces exhibition in Perth, with the announcement that Kongsberg Australia has signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Zone 5 Technologies for manufacturing guided missiles.

Both companies will “explore collaboration opportunities to provide affordable, mass producible long-range strike and air-defence and anti-drone missiles for Australia and New Zealand,” per a release.

Kongsberg, who concluded its acquisition of Zone 5 in June, says that the MoU “establishes a framework for the organisations to collaborate on local manufacturing and supply chain opportunities and builds on Kongsberg’s growing weapons manufacturing capability in Australia.”

John Fry, Kongsberg Australia’s managing director, said that current events in the US and Europe show that “the ability to produce capable and affordable effectors quickly and at scale” was required.

“Building resilient supply chains and industrial capacity is critical to ensuring Australia and its allies can sustain capability when it matters. Key design principles for Zone 5 Technologies’ solutions are simplified supply chains and manufacturability at scale.”

Zone 5 produces the AGM-188 Rusty Dagger long-range strike missile that has reportedly been used by Ukraine as well as the White Spike counter-drone air defense missile.

一堆155毫米炮弹堆放在AS90自行火炮及其乌克兰操作人员的后方（英国国防部）

新加坡——澳大利亚发展自主制导武器制造的努力持续取得进展，但风险依然存在。今年，两家智库呼吁澳大利亚进一步实现资源多元化，并采取切实措施确保其劳动力到位，以支持其计划。

澳大利亚于2024年启动了“制导武器和爆炸物”（GWEO）计划，旨在实现国内制导导弹的生产。根据其2026年《国防战略》（NDS），澳大利亚计划为GWEO计划拨款260亿至360亿澳元（181.6亿至251.4亿美元），但NDS及其配套的综合投资计划并未详细说明资金将如何分配。

目前，该项目共有四个官方合作伙伴：挪威康士伯集团的澳大利亚分公司、法国泰雷兹集团以及美国巨头洛克希德·马丁公司和雷神公司。此外，还有两家澳大利亚本土企业被选为该项目的“企业及支持合作伙伴”。

该计划已经取得了一些里程碑式的进展，澳大利亚已经试射了本地生产的洛克希德制导多管火箭系统（GMLRS）火箭，找到了本地工业合作伙伴来生产GMLRS组件，并达成了一项开发和生产精确打击导弹的协议。

它还将成为AIM-260联合先进战术导弹（JATM）的首个出口客户，自主研发并测试了国产固体火箭发动机，并将本地生产康斯伯格公司的海军打击导弹和联合打击导弹。

后两个里程碑值得关注，因为澳大利亚战略政策研究所 (ASPI) 在 4 月份指出，根据全球战争出口协定 (GWEO) 生产的大量弹药源自美国，而美国制造商已经难以满足需求。

该智库与澳大利亚国防战略署（NDS）的观点一致，支持澳大利亚努力实现弹药来源多元化，并指出“韩国、英国和德国为零部件和完整武器提供了可靠的技术转让途径，可以减少对外国的依赖”。

另一家澳大利亚智库也警告说，澳大利亚劳动力短缺也给全球地球观测组织的工作带来了额外的风险，并呼吁澳大利亚政府带头解决这个问题。

悉尼大学美国研究中心 (USSC) 在 6 月份的一份报告中称，澳大利亚目前的工业劳动力规划“很大程度上被忽视了”，并呼吁澳大利亚政府“解决当前责任推卸、需求信号模糊以及行业、州政府和培训机构之间临时性、渐进式协调的趋势，以确保全球经济展望 (GWEO) 事业的成功”。

鉴于澳大利亚的技术劳动力由于“个人偏好和环境因素”而往往缺乏地域流动性，因此需要加快全球地球同步轨道观测站（GWEO）设施选址规划的制定，并在澳大利亚各州政府和联邦政府之间进行更好的协调。

“要取得成功，必须超越临时协调，发出清晰、长期的需求信号，才能吸引和培养完成这项任务所需的专业人才，”美国太空司令部外交政策与国防主任拉维娜·李博士在报告中表示。

尽管如此，ASPI 对该计划持乐观态度，指出该计划“在缩小能力差距和建立国内工业基础方面已经取得了里程碑式的进展”。

同样，澳大利亚全球地球观测组织（GWEO）前负责人、空军元帅莱昂·菲利普斯表示，他为该组织（负责监督该计划）所取得的成就感到自豪。

“我们一直致力于深化战争储备，增强杀伤力和打击范围——特别是远程打击——更重要的是，建设国内制造业能力，”他在9月离任前说道。

GWEO 的最新里程碑实际上是在今天珀斯举行的陆军展览会上宣布的，Kongsberg Australia 已与 Zone 5 Technologies 签署了一份谅解备忘录 (MoU)，用于制造制导导弹。

根据一份新闻稿，两家公司将“探索合作机会，为澳大利亚和新西兰提供价格合理、可大规模生产的远程打击和防空以及反无人机导弹”。

康斯伯格公司于 6 月份完成了对 Zone 5 的收购，该公司表示，该谅解备忘录“为双方在本地制造和供应链机会方面开展合作建立了一个框架，并巩固了康斯伯格公司在澳大利亚不断增长的武器制造能力。”

康士伯澳大利亚公司总经理约翰·弗莱表示，美国和欧洲目前的形势表明，“快速大规模生产性能优良且价格合理的效应器”是必要的。

“构建具有韧性的供应链和工业产能对于确保澳大利亚及其盟友在关键时刻能够维持能力至关重要。Zone 5 Technologies解决方案的关键设计原则是简化供应链和实现规模化生产。”

Zone 5 生产 AGM-188 锈匕首远程打击导弹（据报道乌克兰曾使用过）以及白钉反无人机防空导弹。