Australia set to buy 220 Tomahawk cruise missiles after US State Department approves sale

The US State Department has approved the potential sale of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Australia in a deal valued at up to $1.3billion.

The Pentagon has approved the sale of 220 of the missiles in a multi-billion dollar deal that will also include technical support.

The sale of the missiles follows the announcement of Australia acquiring multiple nuclear submarines under the US-UK alliance at a cost of up to $368 billion.

The sale has been approved by the US State Department but needs to be signed off by Congress before it can be finalised. 

The package would include up to 220 Tomahawk cruise missiles and technical support

Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed Australia was looking to boost its missile capacity.

‘It’s a really important part of what we need to be doing with our posture, which is to have a greater ability to project,’ Marles told the Today Show.

‘That’s at the heart of what we’re doing with submarines, of course, but making sure we have longer range strike missiles is a really important capability for the country.

‘It enables us to be able to reach out beyond our shores further and that’s ultimately how we are able to keep Australia safe.’

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said Australia could be given the missiles before the new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines arrive under the AUKUS deal.

‘This is how we promote peace and stability, by putting question marks in my potential adversary’s mind.,’ he told ABC News.

‘That is why the Tomahawks are important and the nuclear-powered submarines are vital.’

He said the missiles were able to be fired from the US Virginia-class submarines.

‘We certainly want the best possible capability for the Australian Defence Force so that includes the ability to strike opponents as far away as possible from the Australian mainland,’ he said.

‘The cruise missiles are a critical part of that, as are the submarines that launch them.’

The announcement of the missiles follows criticism from former Labor prime minister Paul Keating about the submarine deal.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said despite the critiques, the coalition would be backing the security partnership.

‘We’ve all been on the end of Paul Keating sprays but it was a special effort this week,’ he said.

‘It is in our country’s best interests. That’s why we negotiated AUKUS and we will do everything we can to help the government get through the family feud.’

Mr Marles said the attacks on the AUKUS deal were not surprising, but the submarine agreement was the right decision.

‘We’ll make sure we deal with all that but at the end of the day, we are focused in speaking to the Australian people as we are with our own party room,’ he said

More to come