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Australia is considering buying a sophisticated US anti-missile defence system that can destroy ballistic missiles in space, the government said Tuesday. Defence Minister Robert Hill said the government planned to buy air warfare destroyers for the Royal Australian Navy which may be fitted with the SM3 missile capable of shooting down long-range ballistic missiles. His statement coincided with talks here Tuesday between officials of the US Missile Defence Agency and Australian officials to discuss specific projects in the controversial US missile shield system dubbed "Son of Star Wars" in which Australia has announced it will participate. Hill told ABC radio that among the specific projects being negotiated is the SM3 missile which Australia may purchase. "It's got the capability to basically meet and intercept missiles outside of the atmosphere, long-range three stage missiles that can do what the Americans did, destroy an incoming missile 37 kilometres (23-miles) above the earth travelling at 3.7 kilometres a second," he said. Hill acknowledged earlier that Canberra is aware of criticism of its participation in the US missile program by regional neighbours including Indonesia over and of suggestions it could trigger a regional arms race. "That's something we need to obviously watch," Hill told Sky News. "That's been the argument against it -- that it would lead to proliferation. "The problem is that the proliferation is already occurring and it's occurring by states that don't follow the rules, so what is the alternative? "Do you seek a capability to defend against missiles or do you simply hope that it won't happen?" Indonesian MP Aisyah Aminy said last week that Australia and the United States were planning to use the missile shield to extend their military hegemony across the region and possibly invade neighbouring countries. Hill said the threat of a long-range missile attack did not exist in Australia at the moment and it was planning for well into the future. "But unless we start to invest in the capability, we won't have it a few years in the future," he added. All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Quick Links
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