Australia’s efforts to develop an integrated air defense system remain on track despite the program receiving public scrutiny.
This is according to senior Australian military officials, who said the initiative is focusing first on knitting together systems and sensors before buying the necessary weapons to shoot down aerial threats.
They said this phase of the program is proceeding with “pace,” suggesting that a fully developed anti-missile system may be imminent.
“There is no use buying whatever missile or whatever launch system or whatever radar you have if you do not have the right thing to plug it into,” Royal Australian Air Force commodore Benjamin Sleeman said.
‘It Takes Time’
The country’s development of an integrated air defense system comes amid soaring tensions in the Indo-Pacific as China continues to assert its influence in the region.
A Canberra-based think tank has repeatedly said that the program is moving too slow, highlighting the need for such a capability to be delivered urgently to help Australia address current threats.
However, Sleeman said he believes developing an effective air defense system takes time, otherwise “you will just have another system sitting out there.”
“We have got some really great systems, and then we will look at procuring those other things when the timing is right,” he said.
Australia currently operates a very short-range man-portable air defense system called the RBS-70, which is due to retire early next decade.
In mid-2023, Raytheon tested the country’s future short-range air defense system based on the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS).