US approves SM-6 and SM-2 IIC related sale to Australia

31st August 2021 - 18:51 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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The SM-2 missile chases threats closer to the water's surface, defending against anti-ship missiles and aircraft out to 90 nautical miles. (Photo: Raytheon)

Australia begins preparations to incorporate SM-6 and SM-2 IIC with sale for related equipment and services.

The US State Department has approved a possible FMS for future standard missile production and related equipment to Australia.

The principal contractor of this sale will be Raytheon Missiles and Defense and the contract has an estimated value of $350 million.

The government of Australia has requested services related to the future purchase of SM-6 and SM-2 IIC missiles.

These services include engineering, integration, testing, obsolescence engineering and US Government and contractor engineering or technical assistance.

The sale will support the readiness and further purchasing of anti-air warfare capabilities that can be deployed from Australia’s newest Hunter-class destroyers, which are equipped with the latest AEGIS Combat Systems.

The purchase of SM-6 and SM-2 IIC missiles is planned for in Australia’s procurement roadmap.

According to Shephard Defence Insight, the SM-6 is a surface-to-air supersonic missile, launched from cruisers and destroyers, capable of successfully engaging manned and unmanned, fixed- or rotary-wing aircraft and land-attack or anti-ship cruise missiles in flight.

The US approved SM-6 foreign sales in 2017, the Aegis combat system operators were expected to be among the first customers.

This was confirmed as Japan was the first international customer to procure the missiles in 2018.