Australia considers Iron Dome-style missile shield

AUSTRALIA is considering purchasing missile interceptors developed for Israel's Iron Dome as it seeks to rapidly build an air defence shield, said officials yesterday.

Citing rapid changes in warfare seen in Ukraine and the Middle East, defence officials told a parliamentary committee that Australia wanted to have a ground-based missile defence system by the "early 2030s".

Discussions are being held over the availability of the United States' Patriot missile defence system and interceptor missiles developed by Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defence Systems for the Iron Dome, recently used in a new US Marines system and jointly manufactured with US company Raytheon.

Truck-mounted medium-range interceptors were tested by the US Marines in the Pacific territory of Guam in June during a regional war game in which Australia also took part.

Australia does not supply weapons to Israel and its purchase of Israeli defence products has come under political scrutiny.

"The government will always seek to deliver the most suitable military technology," government minister Murray Watt told the committee when asked about the matter.

Air Marshall Robert Chipman said the defence force would make recommendations to the government next year after holding a competitive selection process tied to the Talisman Sabre war game in 2027.

The committee also heard that a surge in drone incursions over defence bases, from 19 incidents in 2022 to 204 last year, was causing security concern.

"We are very concerned to understand the difference between silly teenagers and a higher end threat," said deputy secretary for defence Celia Perkins.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Richard Marles said China's military build-up was creating a "condition of pressure" in Southeast Asia, and urged allies and partners to deepen cooperation.

Beijing deploys hundreds of coast guard, navy and other vessels to patrol disputed areas of the South China Sea, which it claims almost entirely despite an international ruling that its position has no legal basis.

"We're obviously seeing the biggest conventional military build-up that the world has seen since the end of World War 2 from China," said Marles on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian defence ministers in the Philippines yesterday.

Beijing's growing assertiveness was "providing challenges" for Canberra, he added, saying Australia relied on maintaining the existing rules-based order.