Australia boosts military firepower with anti-ship missiles after China naval drill

In a move to boost military firepower, Canberra plans to arm Australian soldiers with anti-ship missiles and advanced targeting radars to protect the country’s vast maritime approaches, according to contract announcements as well as a flurry of recent official speeches and ministerial statements.

Two new types of advanced anti-ship missiles for the army fired from mobile launchers are under evaluation with a decision expected by the end of the year, the government has said.

Australian government officials have said that future versions of one of the contenders, Lockheed Martin’s Precision Strike Missile, were expected to have a range of up to 1,000km (621 miles) and could be fired from High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars) launchers. Australia has 42 HIMARS launchers on order from the United States, with launchers expected to be in service from 2026-27, according to the defence department.

The US army in June used two Precision Strike Missiles to successfully attack a moving target at sea during an exercise in the Pacific, the army said in a statement.