[REVISION HISTORY]

US-Australia long-range strike cooperation

Updated 1 time since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-10-06 03:05 UTC → 2026-10-09 03:13 UTC · added ~~removed~~

The United States and Australia are advancing joint long-range strike capabilities through various missile integration and testing programs. In September 2026, the Royal Australian Air Force declared Initial Operational Capability for U.S.-made AGM-158C LRASM anti-ship missiles and AGM-158B JASSM-ER land-attack missiles on F/A-18F Super Hornet jets. This capability, acquired via U.S. Foreign Military Sales, aims to expand allied stand-off strike capacity in the Indo-Pacific. By October 2026, collaborative efforts expanded to hypersonic technology. Under the Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE), the U.S. and Australian air forces successfully conducted a flight test of the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) over an Australian test range. ~~While the~~ The HACM, developed by Raytheon (RTX) and Northrop Grumman, utilizes a two-stage design with a rocket booster and a scramjet-powered ~~weapon has reached~~ cruise stage. Despite the ~~flight test phase,~~ successful test, the HACM program faces significant schedule ~~pressures~~ and ~~a reduced~~ fiscal pressures. Originally slated for earlier testing, the timeline has shifted, and development costs have reportedly exceeded $985 million. To meet acquisition goals for fiscal year 2027, the U.S. Air Force has proposed reducing the number of planned ~~test flights~~ flight tests from seven to ~~meet fiscal year 2027 acquisition goals.~~ five. This reduction in testing frequency introduces risk, as any major failure could jeopardize the program’s delivery objectives and uncertain timeline.

Versions

Only revisions since CLSTR began indexing content versions appear here. Select a version to see what changed compared to the one before it.