Australia fires first HIMARS long-range rocket in war game with US

By Kirsty Needham

ROCKHAMPTON, Australia (Reuters) -Australia's army fired a truck-mounted long range rocket system that has become a priority for U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific for the first time on Monday, alongside U.S. and Singapore forces firing the same system in joint war games.

Armoured trucks with HIMARS - High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems that can reach 400 km (250 miles) - are in high demand in the Ukraine conflict and are also being acquired by U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific, including Australia, which is reshaping its forces to respond to China’s military build-up.

On the first day of Australia’s largest war games, "Talisman Sabre", the U.S., Australia, Japan, France, South Korea and Singapore held a live-fire exercise in northern Queensland involving U.S. F-35B fighter jets and land-based long-range strike rockets and missiles.

Up to 40,000 troops from 19 nations are taking part in Talisman Sabre, across thousands of kilometres from Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island to the Coral Sea on Australia's east coast.

Australian Army Brigadier Nick Wilson, director general of the combined live-fire exercise, said it was the first time Australia, Singapore and the United States had fired HIMARS together, and the first firing by Australia on home soil.

"HIMARS will be utilised in conjunction with a number of other weapon platforms ... to ensure we have a strategy of denial for security, peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific," he told reporters on Monday.

The joint exercise at Shoalwater Bay in north Queensland was watched by Australian Governor General Sam Mostyn and Chief of Defence Admiral David Johnston.

Australia has previously said army regiments with HIMARS can be transported to neighbouring island states with defence agreements to protect its northern approaches in a conflict.

Lockheed Martin delivered the first two of 42 HIMARS launcher vehicles ordered by Australia in April.

Australia has said it will spend A$74 billion ($49 billion) on missiles over the next decade, including a new domestic manufacturing capability.

U.S. Army Lieutenant General Joel Vowell, deputy commanding general for the Pacific, said on Sunday the U.S. needed to work with partners in the Indo-Pacific, and that Talisman Sabre was "a deterrent mechanism because our ultimate goal is no war".

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Rockhampton; Editing by Kevin Liffey)