Australia accelerates missile upgrade due to growing threats

Australia is defenseless against China but for its alliance with the US.

Glad someone pointed that out. Exactly the reason Australia needs to be better armed and prepared and able to hit China back with conventional armed ICBM's. Cant defeat them but can destroy a lot with a lot of missiles.

Russia invades and destroys Ukraine cities and yet cry's out when Ukraine allegedly attacks one fuel depot inside Russia. Imagine if Ukraine could hit many targets inside Russia. Might make Putin think twice if he knows his palace can be hit, and munitions factories etc.

A smart move but more is needed. Australia needs land based conventional armed ballistic missiles with sufficient range to respond to any likely attacker who already has such missiles capable of hitting Australia.

Australia needs to up gun the new OPV fleet as a 40mm bofors is not enough armament for a navy surface ship. Or get a new fleet of corvettes as well.

Army needs multiple vehicle launched multiple rocket systems. Most modern armies of any size has such systems already.

Still a long way to go before Australia can discourage aggressors sufficiently.

All democratic nations need to respond and prepare for the growing threat posed by the world's most economically and militarily powerful dictatorship with an aggressive territorial expansion agenda.

I don't have any easy answers, but more missiles at the bottom of the world doesn't help anyone.

It helps Australia.

If powers like Russia didnt invade smaller nations, and didnt have huge arsenals themselves, then countries like Australia and Japan and Taiwan would not need to increase defense spending.

Russia poses a threat to Australia?

Do they have missiles that can reach Australia? Yes they do.

That makes Russia a threat to Australia as long as it remains a potential enemy with Australian allies.

Australia has been named as an "unfriendly nation" by Russia itself.

If recent events teach us anything, it is of the need to be prepared for an attack.

Well the truth is if you need ICBM capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads to counter potential threats from Russia and China.

Another fact China is rapidly building its navy fleet. It will soon have 3 aircraft carriers and its fourth one will be much bigger that capacity to carry almost 100 aircrafts and launch fighter jets with bigger payload. China is planning to build 4 of them and some high ranked government officer did once say eventually China will have nuclear powered carriers.

If I have such navy fleet at my disposal, wiIl I be satisfied with just sailing them in the South China sea?

The Pacific ocean is next, mate.

Australia is countering China. This move has nothing to do with Russia.

It has a lot to do with Russia, it is why speeding up acquisitions is now imperative, seeing just what is happening in Ukraine has lit a fire under many nations to not be lulled into a sense of false security. From Europe to the Pacific and Asia. Have a better ability to defend yourself because in the end you may be by yourself against a much stronger nation when you least expect it.

Have an ability to strike back so there is a cost to any attacker at home where they least want it.

Ukraine did not want war or its cities devastated. Its much more powerful neighbor had other ideas.

Rarely does the weak attack the strong. Rarely does the strong hit those who can hit back hard.

More often the strong attack when they think they can easily win. So do not make it easy for them.

Might make Putin think twice if he knows his palace can be hit, and munitions factories etc.

Some of those very same Norwegian made Joint Strike Missiles Australia is buying for the Anzac class frigates and Hobart class DDGs are supposedly going to be supplied to Ukrainian forces on their ground based launchers used for coast defense by Norway and some other customers. Russia has nothing that sophisticated, nor does China for that matter.

Desert Tortoise,the US stealth would hit Kim,before he could waddle out of bed,

Then what? Half the South Korean population lives within range of North Korean artillery. Casualty estimates for the first day of a second Korean War are 100,000 dead per hour. Not per day but per hour. Those big apartment blocks house thousands, even tens of thousands per building. The whole point of having US forces in South Korea is to prevent that from happening. Nobody, including nobody in either the US or South Korean militaries, wants to see that kind of savagery. So far in history there has never been an instance of a dynasty like the Kims going past the third generation. The PRC isn't going to last forever either. Change will come. No need to rush and get a lot of innocent people killed.

It's a phallus race boys!

Just a excuse to spend more public money.

Governments do not need excuses to spend public money, and they will spend it regardless.

It may as well go to defense and national safety as be spent on the arts or on politicians themselves.

@zichi Do you really think Putin is crazy? If he was, with all of the nuclear armament he has at his disposal and the way the European allies and the West has come against him he would have used them already. What you don't know is PUTIN isn't the only person who has the keys!! Perhaps lets say the other 3 or 4 guys don't agree with pushing the button, and being ready to call it end game. His closest people are bailing and if he gets call in for war crimes that means they go down to. His bluff has already been called, when he said he has his nuclear armament on call. Biden's response was the world is watching and "We are watching you"! Still nothing. You are buying into him being dishonest and mentally unstable, well I will say this, if he was insane and if he had TOTAL CONTROL of the bombs to destroy the world they would have already been sent. I agree he is a dishonest man, a desperate man he is but he is no fool.

Russia has nuclear missiles capable of reaching anywhere on the planet and totally destroying it. Putin has become dishonest and mentally unstable. Some medical experts think may be steroid rage. At the moment, the most dangerous man in the world.

Well the truth is if you need ICBM capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads to counter potential threats from Russia and China.

Not really. You need to have enough military capability to make invading your country too costly to worth the effort. Nuclear weapons are not something used out of the gate because it kind of ruins the places you intend to capture. Not much point in taking a nuclear wasteland. Nukes are going to be reserved for use when a nation's survival is at stake. For Oz, China would have to cover a lot of ocean to get to an Australian beach. Oz has lots of non nuclear opportunities to bleed them white before they can hold on to any Australian territory. Australia also has to be able to fight with its allies further north.

JASSM-ER in particular is a valuable weapon to have. It is stealthy and because it has such a long range the launch platform ( F/A-18, F-15, B-1B, B-52, etc. ) doesn't have to be stealthy to launch them without being detected. They have this thing called a "BROACH" warhead that can go through an awful lot of concrete and steel.

Desert Tortoise,the US stealth would hit Kim,before he could waddle out of bed,

Not really. You need to have enough military capability to make invading your country too costly to worth the effort. Nuclear weapons are not something used out of the gate because it kind of ruins the places you intend to capture.

Nuclear weapons are deterrents. It protects you from being attacked in the first place. If Ukraine still has its nuclear weapons I do not think Russia would invade it.

I agree he is a dishonest man, a desperate man he is but he is no fool.

Putin might not be a fool, but throughout his career working for Stasi and the KGB, he has shown he's willing to commit evil acts. Sending his bumbling sycophants outside Russia to try to do someone in with Novichok, and within his own country (he and his oligarchs own Putinistan after all) having his inept sycophants poison and/or disappear journalists and others he sees as being associated in some way with the opposition. He is evil in ways similar to Stalin and Hitler. History will record him as among the most evil ever, and as the most evil man of the 21st century, though several other 'leaders' could still emerge to rival him, for example the US might drag someone off one of his golf courses to lower the bar to Putin's level (about 162cm). He has said he would threaten nukes, has admitted to considering evil acts.

Where is the need to buy or plan to accelerate upgrading of long-range missiles?

Washington will supply and answer Canberra's request with no hesitation or reluctance anytime..

First off, the ships require specific hardware and software to fire those missiles. Crews require specific training on those systems to operate them, and third, if there is an emergency there is not enough time to send ships back to port to offload whatever is in their VLS tubes now to make room for NSM and mount launchers on the Frigates.

The F/A-18s need to have hardware and software as well to mount JASSM-ER. Fortunately Finland already integrated JASSM on their F/A-18s so the hard work is already accomplished on someone else's Euro.

Some of those very same Norwegian made Joint Strike Missiles Australia is buying for the Anzac class frigates and Hobart class DDGs are supposedly going to be supplied to Ukrainian forces on their ground based launchers used for coast defense by Norway and some other customers. Russia has nothing that sophisticated, nor does China for that matter.

Those missiles are subsonic with a max range of 555km so can not strike very far inside Russia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Strike_Missile

Ukraine needs missiles that have a range of 2,500km to proved reasonable ability to hit targets of substance in most of Russia. Even then Russian air defenses are better and more modern than Ukraine's S-300 that have done a good job of defending Odesa and other cities where they are in use.

The world is already on the brink of climate disaster, and all most posters can think about is spending insane amounts of money on more missiles. It's one planet. We have to find a way to live together. I don't have any easy answers, but more missiles at the bottom of the world doesn't help anyone.

“There is no justification for China establishing a military presence in the Solomon Islands,” Brady said.

Australia is countering China. This move has nothing to do with Russia.

zichiToday  10:34 pm JST

kaimycahl

I didn't say Putin was crazy. I said he was mentally unstable. 

Do you think there is a difference in the common use of the word crazy, and the term mentally unstable? What is it?

And why do you get so defensive whenever someone proves you wrong or provides a counter argument to what you write?

Reading carefully the comment below, he doesn't write that you 'say' Putin is crazy. He is simply 'asking' you.

kaimycahlToday  10:13 pm JST

@zichi Do you really think Putin is crazy?

Australia accelerates missile upgrade due to growing threats:

Where is the need to buy or plan to accelerate upgrading of long-range missiles?

Washington will supply and answer Canberra's request with no hesitation or reluctance anytime..

Peter14Today  11:44 pm JST

It has a lot to do with Russia, it is why speeding up acquisitions is now imperative, seeing just what is happening in Ukraine has lit a fire under many nations to not be lulled into a sense of false security.

No, this is a counter to China. No threat to Australia from Russia.

The new rearmament timetable comes after the Solomon Islands announced a draft security pact with China.

If looking at a historical reason, then this has more to do with Japan, and its acts in WWII.

zichiToday  11:38 pm JST

Crazy: mad, especially as manifested in wild or aggressive behavior.

Mentally unstable: means that their moods, feelings, and/or actions are consistently unpredictable.

Oh, so Putin is not behaving wildly or aggressively.

Just a excuse to spend more public money.

Yeah, gender equality is important, we quickly also ‘need’ by all man’s a little rocket girl on this already rocket overloaded planet, right?

Russia poses a threat to Australia?

China continues to use economic muscle to expand influence. May not even need to resort to force the way the Western powers are ruining their economies.

A total waste of money. Australia is defenseless against China but for its alliance with the US.

That said, China wouldn't bother trying to invade Australia by force - It’s cheap enough to rent the country or just buy it outright.