Australian government announces missile building program as US steps up war drive against China
Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday announced that his government would begin a $1 billion program to build missiles in Australia, for the first time since the 1960s, in close collaboration with the US administration of President Joseph Biden.
The project was foreshadowed last June, when Morrison’s government unveiled a massive $270 billion spend on military hardware over this decade, taking total military expenditure to $575 billion in the next 10 years. At the time, emphasis was placed on the acquisition of missiles and other strike capabilities from abroad, including the purchase last year of 200 long-range, anti-ship missiles from the US.