Australia to buy up to 220 Tomahawk missiles from U.S.

Watch out Indonesia! I can't remember a president boosting arm sales more than Biden.

We will need more than 220 Tomahawks. Each Virginia class sub will load 12 and our destroyers and frigate maybe 20 each. We will need to also hold war stocks of a few thousand or be able to manufacture under license in Australia.

Watch out Indonesia! I can't remember a president boosting arm sales more than Biden.

I doubt Biden is looking to sell a heap of weapons to Indonesia, although with it having disagreements with China over territory, I also cant count out Indonesia looking to buy armaments to deter China. The US and Europe are the places Indonesia will look to for weapons and missiles.

Watch out Indonesia! I can't remember a president boosting arm sales more than Biden.

FDR

gintonic - these days, you just never know.

More censorious sound and fury from the lecturing Chinese spokesperson to come soon.

Australia is not occupied by PRC. They never will be. Though, Ukraine is occupied by Russia. 220 Tomahawks going to Australia, 400 to Japan. That is 620 Tomahawks. Just send 1000 Tomahawks to Ukraine instead!

Really, Oz needs a few thousand Tomahawks? Why, someone planning to attack and invade us anytime soon?

Who knows? How many missiles have Russia and Ukraine fired in their war? How many can they build alone in bombed factories (Ukraine) and while under sanctions (Russia).

Assuming Australia can manufacture them, their factory will be a priority target. You think it could send out the word and just get all it needs during a war when the US and allies also need all they can get? You think Australia can win a war with 220? Of course it needs a few thousand in war stocks, like it has many millions of rounds for machine guns, tens of thousands of artillery rounds etc.

Holding a few thousand gives breathing room to fight and survive until it can access more from friends or build in Australia. 220 would be used up in the first days or week of any conflict.

Call it an expensive open-ended 'insurance' policy you hope you never need, meanwhile they're spending money like drunk sailors, driving up rates, inflation, debt buildup for future generations all for UNPRODUCTIVE assets you hope are NEVER needed in live fire! Let's not forget their upcoming nuke subs use such weapons.

BIG winner's US lead Military Industrial Complex and ditto for madness in Europe.

Seems EVERYONE else loses!

Guess taxes going up down under, economic development going down, social safety taking a hit, but dangerous world now, so probably necessary 'insurance cost' sadly...

"Why can't we all just get along?"

Rule number one, always buy such dangerous missile stuff from your potential enemy. If theirs work when attacking you, then yours also work perfectly as defense. And if theirs don’t work properly it’s no problem that you bought their garbage. But in this case, what is or will happen if the attackers missiles work properly, but the ones you bought from a friend don’t? You will get into massive trouble and will lose the conflict or everything.

220 Tomahawk Missiles! Damn! I’d hate to be on the receiving end of one of those.

Paul Keating won't like this development.

Wew. Australia truly is the US' best ally. We large countries have to stick together.

But in this case, what is or will happen if the attackers missiles work properly, but the ones you bought from a friend don’t? 

When have the Chinese made anything original? Not for hundreds of years.

Taiwan,look at your shoes, and they probably made in China

Peter14,this missile is an optical, inertial, GPS, meaning the missile is guide by map,that the missiles sees with it camera,the topography of it target Google Cruise Missile Tercom

What a joke, the subsonic Tomahawk has been in service for 40 years, the most optimistic when Aus get her 1st SSN will be ten years later. The Tomahawk reaching 50 years old. Chinese warships has sophisticated radars and 30mm Gatling guns now.

Only ONE reason we mention Taiwan in this security context, wait for it.....SEMI-CONDUCTORS!

Otherwise, resource poor aging shrinking island suffering from asset deflation that makes Japan look like a picnic as NOBODY believes in their 'free' future, no matter how many weapons systems.

Sad but true, unlike Australia that as the advantage of LOTS of water/distance from ANGRY China and plenty of SPACE to host US military personnel and equipment!

Those who carry the sword coming will be slained by the sword itself, don't be happy too early. This over blown of Chinese phobia or hatred of Chinese is very gainful for some greedy people: 368 Billion AuD , too big.

You won't made it!

@Clay: I pity the people living there in Taiwan, the island has becoming an alley of duel, when two group of cowboys shooting in crossfire,bullets flew over or in front of their head. But that was because they side on the wrong side. China is a brother of every Taiwanese, hopefully they will believe this if not too late!

Why can't we all just get along?"

tell that to Xi & Putin

China is a brother of every Taiwanese, hopefully they will believe this if not too late!

nobody in Taiwan believes this

My point / question is - what war ? 

Like its American counterpart, the Australian intelligence community is largely ideologically driven and inadequately educated.

Who and for what purpose is supposedly going to attack us? 

No one and absolutely not China. Australia is an important source of energy.

Who and for what purpose is supposedly going to attack us? 

No one and absolutely not China.

...he said, going on to give the exact reason why someone, and out of everyone, most likely China, would want to attack Australia:

Australia is an important source of energy.

Still waiting for the inevitable CCP mouthpiece to start frothing in hypocritical, fake anger.

Elephant, you are demonstrating your lack of knowledge, they are primarily a deep strike land attack missile, there are purpose designed anti-shipping missiles.

As always you hope you never need it but it is better to have and not need than to need and not have, because then you are truly up the s**t creek without a paddle.

The very fact of Australia having this capability acts as a deterrent and constrains the actions of potential aggressors. As will the nuclear “powered” not armed subs.

368 Billion AuD , too big.

Australia is the only member of the alliance to be providing cash to the other two AUKUS allie. You can see them laughing all the way to their banks. In this way, Australia is like Japan.

So pleased the party of the peace, the Democratic Party, is so consistently pro war.

invalid CSRF

..he said, going on to give the exact reason why someone, and out of everyone, most likely China, would want to attack Australia:

Definitely, China is going to invade Australia for them briquettes.

When have the Chinese made anything original? Not for hundreds of years.

Yes, China has the most number of patent grants in the world, but they stole them all.

The question is how many successful missiles not who invented them. Einstein explains the energy released in an atomic bomb but he doesn't explain how to build one.

It is also how fast you can make them and deliver them. Missiles take about a year and a half for delivery. The arms promised to Ukraine aren't there.

Taiwan hasn't received the weapons they paid for last time let alone this time.

Ukraine is still waiting.

USA- the snake oil weapons sellers trying to walk the talk.

According to the Snake Oil Salesman's custmer service representative: "it's a very complex issue."

Congress is moving to address the backlog in sending weapons to Taiwan, as well as other potential delays in arms sales to Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., told Defense News that the panel is “working on bills now to help expedite and to reduce red tape to get defense items that are needed out in a quicker fashion.”

In the meantime, the massive weapons backlog illustrates how the unwieldy, slow-moving Foreign Military Sales process is undermining U.S. efforts to deter Beijing in the Pacific region.

The reasons — including government delays, supply chain issues and production requirements — are numerous, and the problem won’t be easy to fix, Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, the ranking member on the committee, told Defense News.

“It’s kind of like moving a big ship — turning a ship around — and so it’s a very complex issue,” he said.

https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2022/08/25/chinas-neighbors-are-buying-us-weapons-washington-isnt-delivering/

The very fact of Australia having this capability acts as a deterrent and constrains the actions of potential aggressors. As will the nuclear “powered” not armed subs.

If the nuclear sub has an accident and its nuclear reactor harmed, it can leak radioactive materials endangering Australia and her neighboring countries. In Oct 2021, the USS Connecticut nuclear-powered Seawolf-class submarine “hit an undersea mountain” in the South China Seas.  This is a $3 billion piece of American military hardware that’s fast and outfitted with the latest electronic gadgetry.

Yes, China has the most number of patent grants in the world, but they stole them all.

This but unironically.

If you don't threaten your neighbours - they don't arm up - even AI can predict this

If you don't threaten your neighbours - they don't arm up

Are you sure? Where are you getting that from? It doesn't sound logical to me. For example, neither Canada nor America has threatened their neighbor, yet America is VERY armed up.

So pleased the party of the peace, the Democratic Party, is so consistently pro war.

There is no Democratic Party in Australia. Are you thinking the Liberals?

Tribute to Glorious Leader has always been paid by vassal states in hard cash.

What a joke, the subsonic Tomahawk has been in service for 40 years,

The Tomahawk of 2023 is a completely different missile than the Tomahawk of 1983. I have been around off and on for that entire period of time. When Block IV came out in 2004 that was a completely different missile even has it kept the Tomahawk name. Tomahawks hit their intended target over 95% of the time. There have been upteen studies over the past decades a couple of of which I am familiar with where all kinds of other alternatives were examined some of which were pretty far out but when all is said and done a big subsonic low flyer gets the job done better than anything else.

Tomahawks strengths are that it flies really really low to the ground making it very hard to detect, target shoot down, is completely autonomous (you can read up on how TERCOM works) so jamming does nothing to it, and it doesn't emit so there is no warning that it is coming.

The faster missiles are much more expensive and do not hit their target as reliably. It would take a page to explain why. Salvo size matters and a less costly subsonic missile with a higher P-hit (probability of hit) is a better investment in effective firepower, even if it is boring to the fanbois who never put their lives on the pointy end where the effectiveness of your weapons matters.

Taiwan,look at your shoes, and they probably made in China

Most of my own footwear is made in the US including my most recent pair of Keene waterproof boots. My boat shoes are from the Dominican Republic. Another pair of shoes are from Vietnam. I read labels and don't buy from China.

We will need more than 220 Tomahawks. Each Virginia class sub will load 12 and our destroyers and frigate maybe 20 each. We will need to also hold war stocks of a few thousand or be able to manufacture under license in Australia.

The US has a "few thousand Tomahawks". I don't think at the $4 million unit price shown in the 2023 US Navy budget document for Tomahawk Block V the Aussies can afford such a stockpile of missiles.

Don't get your hopes up about building them in Australia. Raytheon resolutely never shares their intellectual property with anyone including the US military. Every Raytheon product has to go back to Raytheon for repairs or routine maintenance. They won't let US military depots have the information necessary to do their own repairs and Raytheon never co-produces with a foreign nation.

Are you sure? Where are you getting that from? It doesn't sound logical to me. For example, neither Canada nor America has threatened their neighbor, yet America is VERY armed up.

Everyone acknowledges it is expensive to reach across the planet and throw China and Russia back. The US should make no apologies for this.

Tribute to Glorious Leader has always been paid by vassal states in hard cash.

Interesting point. Australia might actually be spending money to keep their sovereignty.

Why pay for missiles and subs with nuclear reactors when you can lease a military base to the U.S.?

Biden might say to Sunak, we’re launching our missiles from Australia, parking our subs with the Aussies AND getting them to pay for it.