The US Department of Defense Agency for Military Cooperation (Defense Security Cooperation Agency - DSCA) on March 16, 2023 sent a notification to the US Congress about the planned upcoming sale to Australia through the US program of intergovernmental foreign military sales Foreign Military Sales (FMS) 220 RGM-109E Tomahawk cruise missiles of Block IV and Block V modifications manufactured by Raytheon Corporation. This sale is approved by the U.S. Department of State. The total cost of the proposed delivery will be $895 million, including training and technical support packages.
The Australian Navy destroyer DDGH 42 Sydney is one of three Hobart-class ships planned to be armed with American RGM-109E Tomahawk cruise missiles purchased by Australia (c) the Australian Ministry of DefenseAccording to the notification, in accordance with the request of the Australian government, up to 200 RGM-109E Tomahawk Block V cruise missiles and up to 20 RGM-109E Tomahawk Block IV cruise missiles are to be delivered.
The RGM-109E missiles are designed to be launched from the Mk 41 universal vertical launchers of surface ships.
Recall that in September 2021, the Australian government, simultaneously with the proclamation of the expanded trilateral security partnership AUKUS being formed with the United Kingdom and the United States, also announced plans for the Australian armed forces to receive additional long-range strike capabilities, including the planned purchase of cruise missiles. These plans provide for:
- purchase and deployment of Raytheon Tomahawk cruise missiles on three new Australian Hobart-class destroyers;- purchase of Lockheed Martin AGM-158B/AGM-158B-2 JASSM-ER aircraft cruise missiles with a range of 900 km for placement on Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet fighters, and in the future on Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighters (corresponding notification to DSCA about the upcoming sale of 80 AGM missiles to Australia-158B/AGM-158B-2 JASSM-ER was released in July 2022);
- purchase of Lockheed Martin AGM-158C LRASM long-range anti-ship aircraft missiles to equip Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet fighters (an agreement on Australia's purchase of 200 AGM-158C LRASM missiles was apparently concluded back in 2020);
- continuation of cooperation with the United States on the development of a promising aviation hypersonic missile with an air-to-surface jet engine for the Australian Air Force within the framework of the American-Australian joint SCIFiRE (Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment) program;
- purchase of high-precision missiles with a range of more than 400 km for the Australian ground forces (apparently, the only candidate is the promising American Lockheed Martin PrSM missile).
- Allocation of 1 billion Australian dollars for the establishment of a guided weapons manufacturing enterprise in Australia.
Apparently, the notification published by DSCA about plans to sell 220 RGM-109E Tomahawk cruise missiles of Block IV and Block V modifications to Australia is the implementation of the first point of these plans, and these missiles are designed to equip three new Australian Hobart-type destroyers, and in the future - nine new Hunter-type frigates planned for construction for the Australian fleet (based on the British type 26).
In 2022, it was also reported that the Australian Navy plans to arm six diesel-electric Collins-type submarines with Tomahawk cruise missiles during the upcoming modernization, but they need to purchase missiles in a special design for launching from boat torpedo tubes.
