SYDNEY: Australia will spend A$1.3 billion (US$833 million) to boost its long-range strike capabilities as it finalised on Monday (Aug 21) a deal to buy more than 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the United States, part of a wide-ranging defence shake-up.
Australia will be only one of three nations to have Tomahawks along with the US and Britain, Defence Minister Richard Marles said.
“We are investing in the capabilities our Defence Force needs to hold our adversaries at risk further from our shores and keep Australians safe in the complex and uncertain world in which we live today,” Marles said in a statement.
The US State Department in March approved the sale of the Tomahawks, which have a range of 1,500km, but did not indicate at the time that a contract had been signed or talks had concluded.
The ship-launched version of the missiles, manufactured by RTX Corp, will be deployed on the Royal Australian Navy’s Hobart-class destroyers, he said.
Source: CNA
