Canberra to invest $304bn in defence over the next ten years with a focus on sea denial, air mobility and long-range effects.
Pictured is HMAS Sydney firing Naval Strike Missile for the first time during RIMPAC 2024. The 2026 Integrated Investment Programme considers undersea capabilities, sea denial and long-range effects top investment priorities. Credit: Australia Defence Forces.
Australia has released its 2026 National Defence Strategy (NDS) and Integrated Investment Programme (IIP) today, 16 April
In the latter, the Government has pledged to spend A$425bn ($304bn) in defence over the next ten years
In doing so, Canberra revealed its top spending priorities: sea denial, air mobility and long-range effects.
It has been two years since Australia published its last defence strategy, and following a string of deliveries and weapon trials, Canberra will now accelerate its progress with $304bn over the next ten years.
Remarkably, the two documents simply extend the same tenets of the military strategy put forward in 2024. This is valid in the Indo-Pacific theatre, where geography demands a heavy naval focus, combat air/mobility and long-range strike effects. Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
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Notably, these top three spending priorities make up more than 60% of the budget.
Graph indicating focus on navy, air and long range strike. Credit: IIP.
But this may upset critics who prioritise recent conflict trends in the Near and Middle East recently, and across Europe through last year.
It could be argued that Australia’s commitment to counter uncrewed aerial systems (C-UAS), for which the IIP does not commit any additional funds, does not indicate a meaningful sense of the global problem. Some critics may consider this evidence that C-UAS does not impact Australia’s fixed and unwavering strategy.
Naval focus
Naturally, undersea warfare is the largest segment as it comprises the country’s AUKUS commitments.
However, this should not overshadow the requirement for uncrewed maritime vehicles (UMV), which GlobalData market intelligence projects will grow at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 9% in the next ten years.
One notable Australian platform is the Ghost Shark XLAUV, for which Canberra signed a contract with Anduril Australia for the delivery, maintenance and continued development over the next five years.
Impression of Ghost Shark. Credit: ADF.
During the Undersea Defence Technology exhibition in London recently, Raytheon Australia’s Tim Midgell, a submarine combat system architect, said UMVs will help to reverse the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) “disproportionate” fleet size relative to the size of its EEZ.
Midgell’s assertion is informed by a unique modelling framework he presented to international collegaues duing the exhibition. He claimed UMVs are a “silver