Enhancing Lethality from The Sea – Missile Upgrades for the Royal Australian Navy

The Australian government is investing heavily in upgrading the lethality and survivability of the navy at sea.

Australia’s National Defence Strategy issued in 2024 outlines a denial strategy and states, “Defence must possess sufficient capability to credibly hold at risk forces that could attempt to project power against Australian territory and our northern approaches.

Specified capability investment priorities include:

• Developing maritime capabilities for sea denial and localised sea control operations that provide Defence with the ability to deny the use of an area of the sea when needed and provide the ADF with freedom of action; and
• Developing the ADF’s ability to strike targets at longer range precisely.”

Through project SEA 1300 Phase 1, the government is investing in new anti-ship, long-range strike, and anti-aircraft missile systems.

The Harpoon anti-ship missile is being replaced by the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile, which has a significantly greater range. The weapon is modern, effective, and survivable and will be progressively installed in Hobart Class Air Warfare Destroyers and Anzac Class frigates from 2024.

Kongsberg Defence Australia has signed several contracts with Australian suppliers, including Aerobond, Axiom Precision Manufacturing, Nupress Group, Marand Precision Engineering, and others, to support the capability’s introduction into the Australian fleet.

In recent imagery released by Defence, HMAS Sydney is shown underway off Sydney heads with at least one Naval Strike Missile canister visible in the space behind the primary superstructure customarily occupied by four Harpoon missiles.

Speaking in Senate Estimates on 5 June 2024, the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, said that some of the missiles had already been fitted on some of Australia’s Anzac class frigates and Hobart class destroyers.

Australia is also acquiring up to 200 Block V RGM-109E Tomahawk missiles and 20 Tomahawk Block IV RGM-109E missiles. Block IV Tomahawk is for land attack, and Block V is an anti-ship missile. The weapons will be installed in Hobart Class Air Warfare Destroyers, and a separate study will be undertaken to investigate the feasibility of fitting the weapon system in the navy’s new Hunter Class frigates, which have just commenced construction.

Tomahawk launches from a Mk.41 Vertical Launch System, so installing them aboard the Hobart-class DDGs will not be a significant issue. Targeting requires additional equipment –the Tactical Tomahawk Weapon Control System and the Theatre Mission Planning Centre). Supporting equipment for Tomahawk is being acquired through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales process.

Australia has long been a key contributor to the development of the Evolved Sea Sparrow Block 2 missile program. Early this decade, it commenced investment in developing the Standard Missile 2 Block IIIC and the Standard Missile 6 Block 1 to meet Australia’s surface-to-air missile capability requirements.

The ESSM Block 2 missile replaces Block 1 missiles in Anzac Class frigates.

The SM-2 Block IIIC weapon will replace the Block IIIB missiles now in the Royal Australian Navy service. The SM-6 Block 1, a longer-range air defence weapon, can also be used as an anti-ship weapon and, in the future, provide a ballistic missile defence capability. This requires upgrading the Aegis combat system used by the Navy’s Hobart class Air Warfare Destroyers (and, in the future, Hunter class frigates) to a Baseline 9.0 configuration. Australia will likely become one of the first export customers for the SM-6 missile.

Australia’s planned participation in future Standard Missile development ensures that Aegis-fitted surface combatants, such as the Hobart-class destroyer and Hunter-class frigates, are fielding the most advanced systems in the world.