AUSTRALIA'S decision to buy an American-made missile system will not deter the team behind a Bendigo-built "StrikeMaster" system.
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Defence on Thursday revealed plans to purchase High Mobility Artillery Rocket System within four years to defend against threats from the air, land and sea.
It is the same long range missile system Russia suspects Ukraine of using last weekend to kill at least 89 soldiers, in the latest operation harrying invading forces well inside occupied territories.
Australia's HIMAR purchase has not dealt a death blow to a separate project by manufacturers Thales and Kongsberg Defence Australia.
They are expected to continue developing plans to convert heavily armoured, Bendigo-built Bushmaster troop carriers into what they are calling StrikeMasters.
The mobile missile launchers could smash maritime targets more than 250 kilometres away.
Each of the StrikeMaster launchers would be assembled at Thales's North Bendigo factory and include missiles originally developed to defend Norway's lengthy coastlines from enemy ships.
That could appeal to a military still actively seeking such options through a process separate to the HIMARS purchase.
It is in the "requirements setting" phase of its search for land-based missiles capable of striking naval targets, a spokesperson said.
Groups like the US Marine Corps already use a combination of HIMARS and Kongsberg's naval strike missiles, the latter of which were designed to defend Norway's expansive coastline from attack.
Proponents think that adds weight to the argument StrikeMasters would complement Australia's HIMARS, especially since the latter's maritime capabilities are still to be fully developed.
They believe StrikeMasters could be ready within two to three years, using Australian production lines, workforces and supply changes.
Thales and Kongsberg unveiled a prototype StrikeMaster at a defence industry event last October and has now honed the concept to include vehicles that could resupply missiles and control what is fired into the air.
All three variants would be based off of Bushmaster designs.
Australia is buying the US-built HIMARS as it increases its focus on emerging security concerns in the Pacific. It wants greater power to strike enemies over long distances.
The government also announced on Thursday it would replace ageing Harpoon anti-ship missiles on Hobart-class destroyers and Anzac-class frigates with Kongsberg's naval strike missiles.
Both the missiles and the HIMARS system would incorporate Australian industry expertise and cost a combined $1 billion, defence industry minister Pat Conroy said.
"The level of technology involved in these acquisitions takes our forces to the cutting edge of modern military hardware," he said.
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