Australia said on Thursday it would buy long-range missiles for its fighter jets from the United States, announcing an Aus$736 million ($518 million) deal that is smaller than a multi-billion-dollar sale approved in March.
The missile sale to Pacific ally Australia comes as US lawmakers have raised concerns over the depletion of missile stockpiles because of the war in Iran.
Defense Minister Richard Marles said Australia would purchase up to 450 of Lockheed Martin's AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missiles for the air force and become the first country outside the United States to use the new air-to-air missile.
"These missiles will be installed on all of our fighter planes. That is, our Super Hornets, our Growlers and our F-35s, and they will be operating on those platforms soon," Marles told reporters in the northern city of Darwin during a multinational war game.
According to AFP, he did not specify when the missiles would be delivered and his office did not comment on why the Aus$736 million purchase was smaller than the sale approved by the US Congress.
Lockheed Martin Australia said it could not comment.
A US foreign arms sales notification to Congress by the US Department of Defense in March said Australia had requested 450 missiles in a package also including test services costing US$3.16 billion.
The notice cited Australia's strategic location in the western Pacific as contributing significantly to regional stability.
An analysis by the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank last week said US stocks of key Patriot and THAAD air defense missiles had been slashed by the Iran conflict, creating a "risk for US readiness to fight a war against China in the western Pacific”
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that US President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had clashed over munitions shortages, particularly long-range guided missiles and interceptors.
The White House denied the report, with Trump insisting on social media that the United States has a vast supply of munitions and threatening anyone who leaked information about weapons stockpiles with jail terms.
Even before the Iran war, missile manufacturers were facing global shortages of key components because of the prolonged conflict in Ukraine.
Australia has said it will spend up to Aus$36 billion over the next decade to establish domestic manufacture of guided weapons through partnerships with global companies including Lockheed Martin.
It said on Thursday it had successfully tested a domestic rocket motor in partnership with French defense firm Thales as part of a program to overcome a shortage of the critical missile component.
