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Australia Becomes First Nation After U.S. To Produce GMLRS Missiles For HIMARS Rocket Launcher System.
Australia has started manufacturing Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) missiles at Port Wakefield in South Australia, with the first batch expected by mid-March 2026. The move strengthens Australia’s sovereign strike capability and supply chain resilience while supporting allied missile production capacity.
On March 4, 2026, Australia announced that Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System missiles are now being manufactured on its territory, marking a major step in the country’s effort to build a sovereign long-range strike base. According to an official report published by Australia’s Department of Defence, production has begun at Port Wakefield in South Australia and the first batch is expected by mid-March. The development matters well beyond industry policy, because it makes Australia the first country outside the United States to produce GMLRS and ties domestic manufacturing directly to resilience in a deteriorating strategic environment.
Australia has begun producing Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) missiles at Port Wakefield, becoming the first country outside the United States to manufacture the precision long-range artillery rocket (Picture Source: Lockheed Martin / U.S. Army / Australia’s Department of Defence/ U.S. CENTCOM)
The immediate significance of the new facility lies in what it changes for Australian defence planning. For years, Canberra, like many U.S. partners, depended on overseas production lines and long wait times for precision munitions. Brigadier Jim Hunter, Director General Guided Weapons Production Capability, said the aim is to produce weapons in Australia to the same standard as those coming off U.S. lines, while reducing the vulnerability that comes with external supply chains. The current production phase is described by Australia’s Department of Defence as a risk-reduction activity focused on certifying processes, training, equipment and techniques, but it already points to a much broader industrial ambition. The government’s plan is to add a separate high-rate facility and move toward a target of 4,000 missiles per year by 2029 as part of a wider Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance enterprise worth up to A$21 billion over the next decade.
From a military standpoint, GMLRS gives Australia a precision fires capability that sits at the core of modern rocket artillery doctrine. The missile is the principal munition for the M142 HIMARS, the launcher Australia is fielding as part of its long-range fires modernization, and the baseline GMLRS offers a range of about 70 kilometers. What separates it from unguided rockets is its guidance package and control surfaces, which allow course correction in flight and far greater accuracy against time-sensitive or high-value targets. In practical terms, this makes GMLRS not just a weapon of reach, but a weapon of discriminate battlefield shaping, capable of striking logistics nodes, command posts, air defence elements or troop concentrations with much greater confidence than legacy area-fire rockets. Lockheed Martin has also continued to push the family forward, with the extended-range version reaching about 150 kilometers while preserving compatibility with existing launchers.
Australia’s long-term interest does not stop at GMLRS. Australia’s Department of Defence has already stated that it ultimately wants to manufacture the Precision Strike Missile as well, moving from a 70-kilometer class precision rocket to a much deeper strike capability. The official Australian announcement says future PrSM increments could strike targets beyond 1,000 kilometers, underlining how this industrial project is designed as an entry point into a broader sovereign missile ecosystem rather than a single-production-line effort. Lockheed Martin’s currently fielded PrSM is already advertised as a successor to ATACMS, designed for HIMARS and MLRS launchers with ranges beyond the older generation, and later increments are intended to push further in both reach and mission set. For Australia, that matters because the industrial, technical and workforce base created around GMLRS assembly, quality assurance and component localization can become the foundation for a much more consequential deep-strike architecture over time.
The operational relevance of that trajectory has become more visible in recent days through U.S. combat use. While GMLRS itself has a long combat record in American service across expeditionary campaigns, the most notable current example comes from the same missile family Australia aims eventually to join at a higher level. U.S. Central Command states that Operation Epic Fury began on February 28, 2026, against Iranian targets, and reporting citing CENTCOM’s official communications says PrSM was used in combat there for the first time. That is an important marker because it shows how rocket artillery launched from systems such as HIMARS is no longer limited to battlefield interdiction at tens of kilometers, but is evolving into a spectrum of precision strike options able to service operational and strategic targets much deeper in contested theaters. Australia’s decision to manufacture GMLRS now therefore aligns with a broader allied shift toward mobile land-based fires that can scale from tactical engagements to theater-level deterrence.
Domestic GMLRS production improves more than stock availability. It strengthens training realism, supports sustained ammunition reserves, and reduces the risk that a crisis in the Indo-Pacific would coincide with a bottleneck in foreign production or shipping. In a geography defined by distance, dispersed basing and maritime approaches, a dependable inventory of precision rockets gives commanders a flexible option to strike from land while complicating an adversary’s planning. For an army using mobile launchers such as HIMARS, survivability and responsiveness are central advantages: launch, relocate, rearm and strike again. A domestic production line makes that operational concept more credible because it supports endurance, not just acquisition.
The strategic implications are even broader. Australia is not merely buying a missile; it is building an industrial lever for deterrence, alliance integration and national decision-making autonomy. By beginning with U.S.-supplied parts and planning to localize components over time, Canberra is following a phased model that reduces technical risk while still aiming for what Brigadier Hunter described as a “tip to tail” sovereign capability. That approach strengthens interoperability with the United States while also ensuring that, in a prolonged contingency, Australia is less exposed to the delays and disruptions that have defined global munitions markets in recent years. At a time when the Defence Strategic Review and National Defence Strategy both place greater weight on long-range strike and denial, the Port Wakefield line is less a symbolic ribbon-cutting than a concrete shift in how Australia intends to generate combat power.
Australia’s start of GMLRS production at Port Wakefield sends a clear signal that missile manufacturing is becoming a central pillar of its defence posture rather than a supporting industrial activity. The first missiles due this month are only the opening stage, but they anchor a larger transition toward sovereign precision fires, deeper strike options and a more resilient force able to sustain itself under pressure. In an era when access to munitions can shape the outcome of deterrence as much as the weapons themselves, building GMLRS in Australia gives Canberra not only more missiles, but more strategic freedom.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.