A former defence strategist for George W. Bush’s administration and now chief executive of the US Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments joined Shearer’s call that Australia should be planning for a longer-term continental missile shield for Australia.
In an article the pair wrote in The Australian today, they argue:
“Highly accurate cruise missiles and hypersonic anti-ship missiles are proliferating in the region and pose an increasing menace to deployed forces, such as Australia’s large amphibious ships.
“Australian military planners (also) need to grapple with the incipient threat posed to the mainland — particularly to defence facilities in northern Australia used by the ADF and rotating US forces — by China’s increasingly large and sophisticated long-range nuclear and conventional missile force.”
The pair cite the Pentagon’s most recent report to congress on China’s military power which found that Beijing already possessed 75 to 100 ICBMs, many with the range to strike northern Australia.
The comments follow former prime minister Kevin Rudd breaking with Labor party policy last month to suggest the North Korean threat warranted Australia planning for ballistic missile defence program.