The US State Department approved a potential sale of Tomahawk missile systems worth $895 million to Australia, further tightening security ties between the two nations under the Aukus partnership.
(Bloomberg) — The US State Department approved a potential sale of Tomahawk missile systems worth $895 million to Australia, further tightening security ties between the two nations under the Aukus partnership.
The provision of as many as 220 Tomahawk missiles to Australia would “support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the US,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement.
“It is vital to the US national interest to assist our ally in developing and maintaining a strong and ready self-defense capability,” the agency said, adding Australia would use the missiles for domestic defense and deterrence of “regional threats.”
Tomahawks are subsonic cruise missiles that launch from ships and submarines and provide long-range, deep strike capability.
The sale of the Tomahawk weapons systems was initially suggested as part of the Aukus security partnership signed between the US, UK and Australia in September 2021. Then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison said they would be fielded on Australia’s Hobart class destroyers.
“We face the greatest strategic uncertainty since 1945,” Australian Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy told Australian Broadcasting Corp. Friday.
“We face a regional arms race” and the best way to deal with that is by investing in the best capability, he said. “This is how we promote peace and stability, by putting question marks in any potential adversary’s mind.”
The news comes in the same week as the Aukus partners announced a road map for Australia’s acquisition of a fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines, a signature outcome of the agreement.
The program is designed to counter Beijing’s military build up and its construction of bases on artificial islands and atolls in the South China Sea.
Australia will purchase as many as five US Virginia-class submarines, with the first to arrive in the early 2030s, before manufacturing its own model based on a UK design. The first homemade nuclear-powered submarines will be ready in the early 2040s.
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