The Australian government has unveiled its blueprint to rapidly deliver missile manufacturing in Australia and accelerate the acquisition of long‑range strike capability over the next decade. The 2024 Australian Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Plan demonstrates the government’s commitment to sovereign manufacturing capability and keeping Australians safe. Enhancing our strike capability and preparedness was one of Albanese Government’s initial six priorities in response to the 2023 Defence Strategic Review, and is a priority under the 2024 National Defence Strategy and the 2024 Defence Industry Development Strategy.
The GWEO Plan provides certainty to Australian Defence industry on its role to boost the domestic manufacture of missiles and munitions and support the uplift of GWEO stockpiles in Australia. The government has backed this priority with $16 billion–$21 billion of investment over the decade, representing five per cent of the Integrated Investment Program.
Taking into account investments in targeting and long-range strike, as well as missile defence, the government has committed $58 billion-$74 billion in the Integrated Investment Program over the decade towards capabilities that integrate with GWEO and contribute directly to enhancing our strike capabilities. The government has already announced key capability investments set out in the 2024 Australian GWEO Plan, including:
- $850 million in partnership with Kongsberg Defence Australia to manufacture and maintain the Naval Strike Missile and the Joint Strike Missile from 2027 at a new facility to be built at Williamtown, near Newcastle;
- $37.4 million in partnership with Lockheed Martin Australia to enable an initial batch of Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) missiles to be manufactured in Australia from 2025;
- $7 billion agreement with the United States to acquire the Standard Missile 2 Block IIIC (SM-2 IIIC) and Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) long-range missiles;
- $142 million for the accelerated acquisition of the Joint Strike Missile, to be delivered from 2025;
- up to $60 million over five years to develop hypersonic and long-range strike capabilities; and
- $22 million over three years to seek options from industry to establish a manufacturing complex for the production of rocket motors in Australia.
The government has also announced its commitment to an Australian facility in partnership with Lockheed Martin Australia to manufacture GMLRS missiles. Site assessments for the new Australian facility are underway, with the facility to be operational by 2029. It will have the ability to manufacture a range of weapons and contribute production capacity to our trusted partners in the region and beyond.
Defence is continuing to work with industry and international partners to strengthen Australia’s munitions stockpiles and the industrial base for domestic manufacture of guided weapons and explosive ordnance.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said: “The 2024 Australian GWEO Plan demonstrates the Albanese Government’s long-term commitment to keeping Australians safe and investing in local manufacturing of cutting-edge capabilities for our Defence Forces. In the 18-months since release of the 2023 Defence Strategic Review, we have made considerable progress to expand and accelerate long-range strike capabilities for the ADF, getting capability into the hands of the war fighter sooner. These GWEO capabilities are an essential part of transforming the ADF into an integrated, focused force capable of safeguarding Australia’s security in the most complex strategic circumstances since the Second World War.”
Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery Pat Conroy said: “The 2024 Australian GWEO Plan will provide defence industry with the clarity and confidence it needs to help increase defence materiel resilience and sovereign capability. Our industry partnerships are essential to uplift Australia’s stockpiles and resilience and meet increasing demands.”
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I’m a tad confused, is the GWEO 2024 plan a new one or is it the GWEO 2023 plan updated ( re released to appear like something was actually happening) . Surely the GWEO should be a priority ( it was in the “Most Important Defence Document Of our time”) . How is it that Kongsberg signs a contract in August 2024 to build a Factory and plans to commence building in the Same year but the much touted GMLRS facility (Announced in July 2023 ) still hasn’t even decided where it will be built, and isn’t slated to begin operations until 2029 . I’m not sure Marles and Conroy have grasped the meaning of Urgency or Speeding things up. Well at least something is happening even at a snails pace.
Don’t worry – many people are confused. For the manufacture of 155mm artillery rounds, NIOA has an existing plant in Maryborough that could have been producing US ammunition by 2026. Yet the government has announced that they will fund Thales to build a new plant that will be producing the identical rounds in 2028, at the earliest.