Australia, US progress missile deal ahead of Albanese’s meeting with Trump

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Washington: Australia and the United States have progressed a defence partnership under which Australia is set to begin producing guided missiles, including for export to the US and beyond, by the end of the year.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy, who is in the US to meet Trump administration officials, announced that Australia, the US Department of War and American weapons giant Lockheed Martin had signed a statement of intent and would open an office in Alabama to underpin the project.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy travelled to the US to meet Trump administration officials.

The announcement was made days before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was due to fly to Washington for his first proper face-to-face meeting with President Donald Trump in which the controversial AUKUS submarine pact is expected to be a key topic of discussion.

The statement signed on Monday (Tuesday AEST) paved the way for co-production of critical long-range missiles across the guided multiple launch rocket system (GMLRS) family of munitions and precision strike missiles. Australia was on track to start making GMLRS by Christmas, Conroy said.

“The joint statement also acknowledges that for guided weapons manufacturing in Australia to be viable and sustainable, production quantities would need to extend beyond the demand of the Australian Defence Force,” Conroy said at the Australian embassy in Washington.

The weapons will be available for export to the US, and potentially elsewhere through what Conroy called “the US-led global supply chain”.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy at Garden Island, Sydney, last month.

Asked if that meant weapons could be exported to US allies such as Israel or Ukraine, Conroy said Australia’s export control regime would still apply, “so we would have to be comfortable with the end user”.

The plan was announced in 2023 as part of efforts to spur ammunition development amid the war in Ukraine and bolster defence industries in both nations.

Conroy said the new statement of intent reaffirmed the strength of the US alliance and the two countries’ mutual interest in contributing to regional security.

Australia is awaiting a Pentagon review of the AUKUS submarine agreement, under which Australia is due to purchase nuclear-powered submarines from the US and later make its own AUKUS-class vessels with the UK.

Key Trump administration officials such as defence undersecretary Elbridge Colby have raised concerns about the deal, which was agreed by Joe Biden and Scott Morrison, although recent reports have suggested the Pentagon’s review will wave it through.

Australia has so far paid about $1.6 billion into the US industrial base to bolster lagging submarine production and is due to pay another $US1 billion ($1.53 billion) by the end of the year.

Conroy said Australia planned to pay the next instalment “shortly”, but would not say if the government would wait for the Pentagon’s review to be released.

“We remain very confident in AUKUS, and we remain very confident AUKUS has utility to all three countries, and we intend to honour our commitments that we made under AUKUS,” he said.

Last month, the Albanese government committed $12 billion to construct the Henderson Defence Precinct in Perth, including graving docks for nuclear submarine maintenance, which will serve the AUKUS agreement.

The government has estimated AUKUS will cost up to $368 billion over 30 years.