Australia has bought more than 200 missiles from the US

Australia wants to buy more than 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the US. The $830 million order will provide the Australian military with “more powerful and technologically advanced” weapons, the Ministry of Defense said today.

Australia has undergone the biggest reform of its military in decades. With missiles, it wants to keep potential adversaries like militarily ambitious China at bay.

Defense Secretary Richard Marles said Australia was investing in its armed forces to keep potential adversaries “further from our shores and to ensure Australia’s security in the complex and uncertain world we live in today”.

The Tomahawk cruise missiles have a range of more than 1,000 kilometers and are carried by the Australian Navy’s Hobart destroyers. They can also be used by nuclear-powered submarines, which Australia plans to buy from the US as part of the Augus military deal.

In response to China’s growing dominance in the Indo-Pacific, Australia, Britain and the United States formed their own defense alliance.