Australia accelerates missile upgrade due to growing threats
The Associated Press
Australia has accelerated plans to buy long-range strike missiles years ahead of schedule because of growing threats posed by Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton said April 5, 2022, that the accelerated rearming of fighter jets and warships would cost U.S. $2.6 billion and increase Australia’s deterrence to potential adversaries.
“There was a working assumption that an act of aggression by China toward Taiwan might take place in the 2040s. I think that timeline now has been dramatically compressed,” Dutton told Seven Network television.
“When we look at what’s happened in the Ukraine, there is the prospect of Russia going into Poland or somewhere else in Europe. That would be a repeat of the 1930s and that’s not something that we should allow to happen,” Dutton added, referring to the beginning of World War II.
Under a revised timetable, FA-18F Super Hornet fighter jets, pictured, would be armed with improved United States-manufactured air-to-surface missiles by 2024, three years earlier than planned.
The JASSM-ER missiles would enable fighters to engage targets at a range of 900 kilometers.
Australia’s ANZAC-class frigates and Hobart-class destroyers would be equipped with Norwegian-made Kongsberg NSM missiles by 2024, five years ahead of schedule. The missiles would more than double the warships’ strike range.
The new rearmament timetable comes after the Solomon Islands announced a draft security pact with the PRC. Under its terms, Beijing could send military personnel to the South Pacific island nation to maintain order and for other reasons. It could also send warships to the Solomons for stopovers and to replenish supplies, which had led to speculation about the possibility of a Chinese naval base there.
The PRC has denied seeking a military foothold in the islands and accused others of raising tensions.
U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Samuel Paparo said the Solomon Islands-PRC pact was “very concerning.”
“I’m undoubtedly concerned … and it’s a concern for all of our partners throughout the Western Pacific and notably Australia and New Zealand,” Paparo told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on April 4.
Anne-Marie Brady, a global fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington and a professor of politics at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, said a hostile power in control of the Solomons would have a direct impact on sea lanes linking South Pacific states.
“There is no justification for China establishing a military presence in the Solomon Islands,” Brady said. “It is meant to cut off Australia and New Zealand from U.S. military support. … It is both an immediate and long-term threat.”
IMAGE CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
