Peter La Franchi/CANBERRA
Australian concerns at the potential for proliferation of chemical and biological weapons within the Asia-Pacific region have lead to plans for the development of what is being termed a "Special Weapons" capability by 2005.
Key decisions on whether to proceed with the project are to be made by the senior Australian Defence Capability Committee at a meeting scheduled to take place in Canberra on 22 February.
The Special Weapons requirement calls for an extremely high burn temperature warhead, designed to incinerate biological and chemical weapon stockpiles, fitted to a stand-off weapon with a range of more than 100 nautical miles. Australian defence officials are emphatic that the requirement is for a conventional warhead type, as opposed to any nuclear option. It is not clear whether such a warhead is currently available.
The Special Weapon would be primarily carried by Royal Australian Air Force F-111 strike aircraft, but could also be adapted for carriage aboard Boeing F/A-18 and AP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft.
Australian concerns about the possibility of the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons have been repeatedly spelt out in a number of defence strategic assessments in recent years.
The 1997 Australian Strategic Review said that "-were proliferation to occur, it would pose a serious threat to regional and our own security". That same statement, however, said that "-at present there are no signs that weapons of mass destruction are likely to proliferate in South-East Asia."
Committee consideration of the proposed Special Weapons capability comes in the immediate wake of the finalisation of a new and still classified strategic review by the Australian Defence Force, with this understood to warn of increased levels of uncertainty in the region in the early portion of the next century.
The Special Weapons requirement is expected to feature as Phase 2 of a yet to be created Follow On Stand Off Weapons (FOSOW) project which will encompass the remaining but restructured phases of the existing Project Air 5398.
That project called for a common airframe which supported anti-radiation, area-denial and maritime strike capabilities through a series of modular seeker and warhead types.
The FOSOW proposals call for the creation of a new two-phase project, which retains the emphasis on a common missile airframe. Depending on decisions by the Defence Capability Committee, a request for proposals could be issued to up to eight contenders before May. The project is expected to be cost capped at around $A200 million.
An industry briefing for the FOSOW project is planned to take place at the Point Cook Air Force base in mid February, during the Australian Airshow Downunder in Melbourne.
Australia has also been increasingly active with the USA in supporting the development of theatre missile defence capabilities, with this including exploration of the use of the Jindalee Over The Horizon Radar system in the detection of ballistic missiles during their launch phase. A series of detection trials, involving the use of Black Brandt rockets to simulate SCUD class ballistic missiles, was undertaken off Northwestern Australia during the second half of 1997.
According to the 1997 Australian Strategic Review, "the potential threat to Australia for ballistic and cruise missiles" needed to be kept under review, with "the dangers of missile proliferation-compounded by the possibility that they could be used to carry nuclear, chemical or biological warheads".
Source: Flight International
