Melbourne: Australian military leaders are scrambling to cobble together fresh air defence capabilities, as China’s missile arsenal is growing and Beijing’s warships have started showing up in Australasia.
Global companies offered weaponry to that end at the recent Avalon International Airshow, held near Melbourne in late March. For now it appears that military leaders are prizing sensors over interceptors in what will be Australia’s future network of weapons for defending would-be targets in a conflict.
Air Vice-Marshal Nick Hogan, head of Air Force Capability, acknowledged that an integrated, medium-range air defence capability has been delayed. “What’s most important to us is seeing and sensing first, so getting the command and control right first, and then getting the kinetics that might be required to effect anything coming towards us,” he said at the Avalon event.
Hogan was referring primarily to Project Air 6500, which is slowly delivering an integrated air battle management system.
One lesson from Ukraine is the need for air defence, and Hogan said Australia was learning from evolutions seen globally. However, Australia currently owns only NASAMS batteries and three air-warfare destroyers.
