The Sovereign Missile Alliance: Australia makes real attempt to engage with the future of war

Three capitals in lockdown and governments around the country are paralysed by failure. We focus on the immediate, so the news that this country will be designing its own weapons some seven to 15 years out quite understandably didn't rate.

That doesn't matter. The engineers and scientists will just keep plugging away at their work, slowly developing more, new, cutting-edge technologies the way they are now, while we focus on other things.

But then one day, when our dreams of advanced submarines finally plunge into the world of physical possibilities; when we recognise piloted aircraft will always be out-manoeuvred by swifter missiles; and when we finally realise that armoured vehicles aren't actually an answer to the problems we're facing: that's when we might finally remember SMA, the Sovereign Missile Alliance.

That's because this enterprise represents the most dynamic attempt to solve the most critical problem for Australia - how does the country defend itself in a future world, one where the speed of technological change has continued to develop, unmaking old constants in the same way that Covid, for example, is transforming our lives today.

Lockdowns and public health measures are vital in stemming the surge of this virus. We know, nonetheless, that something more - a shift-change - is needed. Lockdowns are a necessary tactic but strategically irrelevant for providing long-term immunity.

Critical breakthroughs in defeating the virus come from opening ourselves to science, not hunkering down in silos. To make the big breakthroughs we need imagination and the capacity to think of the problem in a different way.

The weak have always used missiles to even up the battlefield. One of the earliest stories in the Christian Bible tells of how puny, unarmoured David launched a stone from his slingshot to stop the marauding giant Goliath.

Then came archers unhorsing knights; musketeers destroying pikemen; and finally the empty battlefields of the trenches in World War One where machine-gun bullets cleared the fields of visible soldiers. Twenty years later tanks had swung the pendulum to the offensive and armour was again strong enough to offer some protection to armies pressing the assault home.

Today, huge advances in precision and explosive power are establishing the final triumph of the missile and not simply ones armed with nuclear warheads.

A ship may be able to use close-in weaponry to create walls of lead to defend itself against first one missile and then the next. But how can it carry enough ammunition (or produce enough laser energy) to continue protecting itself as the anti-ship missiles keep coming?

How will aircraft duck and weave inside the turning circle of an anti-air weapon? And how heavily armoured does a tank need to be before it's protected from explosives penetrating its roof?

Images of 1914, depicting French cavalry wearing plumed helmets or lance-wielding Austrian ulhans, look ridiculous to us today. Nevertheless the commanders of that time confidently fielded such troops with seemingly no idea how inadequate such troops would be to modern war.

A similar transformation is taking place today. The weapons systems of the past are inadequate: missiles have overtaken them.

But, just like vaccines, we can't rely on other countries to provide what this country needs. Australia will need its own indigenous missile industry and that's where SMA will come into its own.

It's the product of an alliance between two other Australian defence firms; Electro Optic Systems and Nova. Covid, again, played its part. During the lockdown, leaders of both companies were trapped here instead of rushing overseas to develop their businesses.

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Retired General Peter Leahy suggested to the founder of EOS, Ben Greene, that it might be profitable to have a chat with Nova's group chief executive, Jim McDowell. The two did get together and hit it off, recognising both that the country didn't have a plan capable of addressing this crucial strategic issue but, perhaps more importantly, that if they did get together to form a specialist subsidiary, the resulting organisation would be able to reach back and reach critical mass.

This would be the key to unlocking the problem.

Some two years ago military leaders recognised that the country had a hole in its missile inventory. A proposal slowly worked through the system, resulting in a decision to buy these weapons, most of which would inevitably come from the US. Greene and McDowell knew, however, that after the stop-gap purchase had been made there would be a continuing need for more missile 'solutions'.

"We know the government already needs twice as many missiles as it's got money," says Greene. "And as soon as they have these ones they'll need the next generation - both ground and space based. What we're fielding is already old technology."

In addition to the superpowers, Norway, Sweden, South Korea, and Singapore are all developing their own significant missile industries. SMA gives Australia the chance to harness and extend both pure and applied scientific knowledge.

And in case that just sounds like a bit of the usual PR spin, it's worth noting that EOS is currently founding two permanent (professorial) Chairs in G8 universities, a further demonstration of its commitment to the broader knowledge base.

The business will also mean something for the Capital region. Although Nova is in South Australia, EOS currently sprawls across 18 separate facilities including six in the Canberra/Queanbeyan region.

The expansion will allow consolidation into a new and dynamic tech precinct which offers a remarkable chance for whichever government is swift enough to seize it. The ACT has failed to grasp such opportunities in the past - it will need to move quickly if it isn't to forgo this one.

The militaries of the future will be based around missile platforms. These are quickly becoming the only weapons systems that count. The government now needs to decide if it wants to back Australian ingenuity and design or simply send our money overseas and buy American.