Australia is incrementally increasing preparedness for the most dangerous geopolitical circumstances since WW2

Earlier this week we saw the release of the 2024 Australian Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordinance (GWEO) plan – we’ve included the link below. There are two major new munitions manufacturing announcements of note:

1️⃣ An Australian Weapons Manufacturing Complex will be established with Lockheed Martin to (eventually) manufacture Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) missiles. These missiles are fired from HIMARS, ~90kg warhead range of 70km. The plan is to have capacity to assemble 4k GMLRS by 2029.

2️⃣ Thales to establish Large Calibre Ammunitions Manufacturing at Benalla. GWEO has selected the US 155mm M-series rounds and Thales will forge shells and fill with high explosive.

The plan is to forge and fill 15k 155mm rounds per annum with latent capacity to scale up to 100k rounds per annum if required by 2030.

For context Ukraine’s 155mm round usage is currently estimated up to 6k per day. Open source reporting also estimated that Ukraine had fired 9.5k GLMRS missiles in a 12 month period.

📸 via Defense News

The Australian Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Plan

Information about Australian Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Plan.