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April 14, 2026
The Albanese government has vowed to heed the lessons of the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine in its new 10-year weapons-investment plan, which will include an extra $2bn-$5bn on drones and counter-drone systems.
The new defence shopping list to be unveiled this week is also expected to address key vulnerabilities in missile defence, guided weapons for the army, "national resilience", and sovereign manufacturing of critical defence capabilities.
The new weapons blueprint will be revealed days after Anthony Albanese announced Chief of Navy Mark Hammond would be Australia's new chief of the defence force, and Lieutenant General Susan Coyle would become chief of army and the first woman to lead one of the ADF's services.
Under the announcements on Monday, Rear Admiral Matt Buckley, the Australian Submarine Agency's head of nuclear submarine capability, will replace Vice Admiral Hammond as chief of navy.
Defence Minister Richard Marles will release updated versions of the government's national defence strategy and investment program at the National Press Club on Thursday amid stark warnings the ADF is unprepared to fight a 21st century war dominated by unmanned systems and expensive missile duels.
The defence blueprints will lift investment in drones from $10bn over the coming decade to $12bn$15bn, including up to $3.1bn on smaller drones that have proven critical in the Ukraine conflict.
Over the decade, about $8bn will be spent on uncrewed aerial capabilities, $4.5bn on maritime drones including the Speartooth uncrewed submarine, and $2.3bn on drones for the army.
It's understood Defence has already awarded several contracts for new counter-drone systems, including one to Australian company AIM Defence for its highenergy Fractl laser which can track and target drone swarms at distances of more than 100km. "Over the past two years, conflicts overseas have shown just how important drones and uncrewed systems are for our Defence Force," Mr Marles said.
"The war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East underscore the rapid advancements in these technologies, and the ability for these systems to generate significant asymmetric advantage against larger, more expensive platforms.
"Expanding our fleet of autonomous and uncrewed systems across all domains will not only help the ADF keep our nation safe, but will boost Australia's sovereign defence industry supporting local jobs and harnessing Australian innovation."
The investments will include new and re-reprioritised funding from within the Defence budget. It is unclear whether the funding will be front-loaded to deliver capabilities in the next few years to counter growing strategic threats, or fall in the latter half of the decade.
The government also revealed on Monday that a domestically built Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System missile was successfully fired at the Woomera Test Range in South Australia, Continued on Page 5 Drone on: Labor learns lessons of Iran, Ukraine Continued from Page 1 in a milestone for the nation's nascent guided-weapons industry.
Admiral Hammond, who has served in the navy for 40 years, will take over from outgoing CDF David Johnston in July. The former Collins-class submarine commander will become the first head of the ADF who began his career as an enlisted sailor.
Lieutenant General Coyle similarly began her ADF career as an enlisted soldier. Mr Marles said her appointment was a "deeply historic moment" and her achievement would show women considering a military career what was possible.
The government is yet to announce who will fill other looming vacancies, including replacements for Defence Department secretary Greg Moriarty and Australian Submarine Agency directorgeneral Jonathan Mead. It also needs to find a new national armaments director to lead Defence's new capability delivery agency.
Australia is at the forefront of developing high-end unmanned capabilities including the Ghost Bat and Ghost Shark drones, which are not yet in service.
But many strategists believe the government has lagged behind in the development of cheap and lethal "first-person-view" drones like those that have dominated the battlefields of Ukraine.
The ADF also has nothing in its arsenal like Iran's long-range and relatively inexpensive Shahed drones, which have caused havoc in the current Middle East conflict, forcing the US and its allies to burn years' worth of expensive missile interceptors in just weeks.
The plans come amid unprecedented pressure on the defence budget due to the AUKUS nuclear submarine plan and the development of two new classes of frigatethe Japanese-designed Mogami and the troubled Hunter-class.
Opposition defence spokesman James Paterson said the test of the government's new weapons' procurement plans would be "how quickly the government gets real capability in the hands of war fighters to defend our country.
"Ukraine and Iran are yet more warning signs that we don't have anywhere near sufficient offensive or counter-drone and missile capabilities in the ADF today," Senator Paterson said.
"Acquisition of these critical priorities must be the most urgent priority of the NDS. Plans to acquire capability years down the track doesn't help the ADF defend our interests and values today."
He said the only way to deliver real capabilities without budget cuts was to increase the defence budget immediately.
"If Richard Marles hasn't secured real spending increases in the forward estimates then this strategy is doomed to fail from the start," Senator Paterson said.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute warned after last year's budget that the government's "business as usual" focus on defence would leave Australia with a "paper ADF" that was ill-prepared for near-term conflict.
The government's pre-budget announcements come amid growing fears the ADF will be at the back of the queue for new USmade missiles and missile defence systems.
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said about a month ago: "I've received no advice that any of our missile orders are in danger of being diverted."
But the missile-supply picture has worsened significantly since then, with the Iran war exposing the unsustainable use of milliondollar missile interceptors to shoot down low-cost drones.
Charles Edel, the Australia Chair at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the extraordinary usage rates of offensive and defence missile in the Iran conflict had huge implications for US and allied readiness in the Indo-Pacific.
"This should galvanise Washington's efforts to prioritise, resource, and build up its munitions and turbocharge efforts for co-production with key allies like Australia and Japan," Mr Edel said.
The US's Payne Institute for Public Policy reported that, in the first 16 days of the war, the US and its Middle East allies fired off more than 11,000 offensive and defensive missiles at a cost of $US26bn ($37bn).
The US has reportedly burned through more than 850 Tomahawk missiles which are in Australia's order book and will take years for the US to replace and more than 1000 air-defence interceptor missiles including from the Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) systems.
Sourcing rare earths and other materials for the complex munitions will further expose the US's vulnerability to Chinese supply chains.
"China controls most of the world's gallium and germanium, and Beijing has imposed numerous mineral export controls since 2023, to prevent the US and its allies from acquiring these necessary inputs for the defence industrial base," the institute said.