<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>332097</docID> <postdate>2024-10-30 13:26:51</postdate> <headline>Australia to fire up missile build amid stock scarcity</headline> <body><p><img class=" wp-image-332098" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20231020001854317600-original-1.jpg" alt="" width="599" height="399" /></p> <caption>More than $70 billion is earmarked for the military's guided weapons and explosive ordnance plan. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">By <b>Dominic Giannini</b> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>Russia's war in Ukraine shows Australia needs the capacity to build up its own missile and ammunition stockpiles at home as global security deteriorates, the defence industry minister says.</strong></p> <p>Australia will push to domestically manufacture missiles and munitions at scale from 2025 in a move that will create more than 1000 jobs, Pat Conroy said while releasing the military's guided weapons and explosive ordnance plan.</p> <p>The federal government will partner with Lockheed Martin and lay down $316 million to build a weapons manufacturing plant able to produce 4000 guided, multiple-launch rocket systems each year, starting later in the decade.</p> <p>It will work with Thales to manufacture 155mm artillery shells at a Commonwealth-owned facility in Benalla, Victoria, that will produce 15,000 rounds a year by 2028 and can scale up to 100,000 annually.</p> <p>It's also working on options to manufacture rocket motors domestically, with $22 million set aside over three years.</p> <p>Increasing long-range strike power would be the cornerstone to the military's ability to deter potential adversaries deeper into the Pacific, Mr Conroy said.</p> <p>The US-China rivalry was the sharpest in the Indo-Pacific and a primary consideration for Australia's security, he said, with the region on the "cusp of a new missile age".</p> <p>"These weapons are increasing in numbers, speed, range and precision," he said in an address to the National Press Club on Wednesday.</p> <p>"But there can be protracted lead times for securing these weapons, global production capacity is limited and cannot surge quickly."</p> <p>Australia had become reliant on imports as it didn't manufacture its own weapons, Mr Conroy said.</p> <p>Seven year's worth of anti-tank missiles were used in the first month of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and 10,000 artillery shells used on a single day equated to a month of European production, he said.</p> <p>"When it comes to munitions, the global shelves are not being restocked as quickly as we would like," he said.</p> <p>"That's why we need to make and maintain guided weapons and explosive ordnance in Australia, this will make us more self-reliant, and more resistant to coercion."</p> <p>More than $70 billion over the decade has been set aside for ranged weapons, missile defences and associated capabilities as part of the plan to deter potential adversaries from attacking Australia.</p> <p>This includes a manufacturing facility for 155mm artillery ammunition, which is used by Australia, the United States and other partners who operate a light towed howitzer.</p> <p>A shift to long-range strike capabilities means a revamped navy fleet will be able to hit targets more than 2500km away, the army 1000km and the air force 900km.</p> <p>More than 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles are being purchased for the navy's Hobart class destroyer and will be onboard by the end of 2024 wh</p> </body>