Australia buys 220 US Tomahawk missiles

• Australia requested approval from the US State Department to purchase up to 220 long-range.
• Tomahawk cruise missiles for its navy ships and the US nuclear-powered subs it bought this week.
• The US will sell Australia three Virginia-class submarines under the bigger deal.

Australia requested approval from the US State Department to purchase up to 220 long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles for its navy ships and the US nuclear-powered subs it bought this week. Australia had US State Department approval.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the deal could cost 1.3 billion Australian dollars ($895 million), including upkeep and logistics assistance.

The statement said the sale would enhance Australia’s ability to work with US maritime forces and other allies and contribute to tasks of mutual interest.

AUKUS—a US-Australia-UK agreement—authorizes the buy. Over 20 years, the three nations will share technology and resources to build a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.

The US will sell Australia three Virginia-class submarines under the bigger deal. Australia and the UK will build new nuclear-powered submarine ships to strengthen allies in the Indo-Pacific, where China has been building up its military.

Tomahawk rockets debuted in the 1991 Gulf War. They use several customized devices to fly at high subsonic speeds at low altitudes. The US Navy says US and UK subs and ships can fire them.

Only the UK has bought US Tomahawks. Japan recently announced plans to buy hundreds of the missiles, which can reach over 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), to strengthen its defenses.

Friday, Australian Defense Minister Pat Conroy told the ABC that the ADF could use Tomahawks before the first of three US-made Virginia-class subs arrives in 2033.

The Australian government wanted Tomahawks for the Royal Australian Navy’s Hobart-class ships when the AUKUS deal was revealed in 2021.

Conroy told the ABC that this is part of the government’s plan to give the ADF the best tools to attack from afar and deter enemies. “We promote peace and stability by creating doubt in potential threats.”

This week, former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating has strongly criticized the multibillion-dollar AUKUS deal, which Australia’s two largest political parties support.

Keating, who led the nation from 1991 to 1996, called it “the worst international decision by an Australian Labor government” in over 100 years.

He wrote that Australia is ensuring that the US, an Atlantic force, will rule Asia for 50 years.

“We just don’t need them,” Keating said of subs. He said adding diesel-electric submarines to Australia’s Collins-class submarine fleet would defend its coasts.

AUKUS could cost $368 billion (or $245 billion) over 30 years.

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