Australian Army to Field U.S.-Made PrSM Long-Range Missiles Under New Pact

The Albanese Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States to formally establish Australia as a cooperative partner in the development, production, and sustainment of the U.S. Army’s Precision Strike Missile (PrSM).

The agreement was signed during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, where Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth welcomed the new partnership. This follows the 2024 Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) and is aimed at strengthening land-based strike capabilities and enhancing local defence industry involvement.

The PrSM is a next-generation surface-to-surface missile designed by Lockheed Martin to replace the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). It can strike targets beyond 499 kilometers and is compatible with both the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS). Each launcher pod carries two PrSMs, featuring open systems architecture and modular design to increase adaptability and survivability in contested environments.

Under the MoU, Australia gains access to PrSM munitions and joins the program as a full cooperative partner. This opens the door for Australian companies to participate in the missile’s global supply chain and to manufacture components locally. Defence officials confirmed that negotiations on future domestic production and maintenance of PrSM in Australia will begin later this year.

The Australian Government will invest approximately $310 million over 10 years as part of the cooperative agreement. An additional $150 million will be spent over the next five years to procure initial quantities needed to establish the Australian Army’s first Long Range Fires Regiment. The first HIMARS launch vehicles for this capability arrived in March 2025.

The PrSM includes multiple advanced features such as inertial navigation with GPS, imaging infrared (IIR) guidance, and an anti-radiation seeker for land-based anti-ship targeting. It is 13 feet long, 17 inches in diameter, and carries a 200-pound high-explosive fragmentation warhead.