OTTAWA —As Western militaries race to rebuild their long-range strike capabilities amid growing geopolitical tensions, Australia is rapidly emerging as a model for how middle powers can combine operational capability with sovereign defence production. Recent Australian milestones involving the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, locally produced guided rockets, and future Precision Strike Missile integration highlight a path that Canada may increasingly find difficult to ignore.
Australia, as of a couple days ago, achieved a significant defence-industrial breakthrough by successfully test-firing its first domestically assembled Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System rockets from an Army HIMARS launcher. The test represented more than a weapons demonstration; it marked Australia’s transition from being solely a consumer of advanced missile systems to becoming a producer integrated into allied supply chains. Backed by tens of billions of dollars in planned investment, Canberra’s broader Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance initiative aims to establish local production of missiles, artillery ammunition, and future long-range strike systems for the nation’s defence forces.
READ: Canada Secures Long-Range Missile Capability for CAF
The Australian Army is simultaneously moving toward the next generation of precision fires. Under plans associated with its LAND 8113 modernization effort, the service intends to field the Precision Strike Missile, a weapon capable of striking targets at ranges exceeding 500 kilometres, with future variants expected to reach even farther. Notably, Australian officials envision employing PrSM not only against land targets but also against moving maritime threats, effectively turning truck-mounted HIMARS launchers into highly mobile coastal defence assets.
The relevance of the Precision Strike Missile is no longer theoretical. In 2025, the missile made its combat debut during Operation Epic Fury, when U.S. forces employed PrSMs launched from HIMARS against targets in Iran. The operation marked a major milestone for the Army’s next-generation long-range fires capability, demonstrating that the missile has moved beyond testing and into operational service. While U.S. Central Command has not publicly identified the exact targets struck by the PrSM, the missile was employed as part of a broader campaign against Iranian military infrastructure that included ballistic missile sites, air-defence systems, command-and-control facilities, missile and drone production networks, anti-ship missile positions, and other assets deemed to pose an imminent threat. Defence observers noted that the strike represented the first real-world validation of a system designed to replace the aging Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), while also underscoring the growing importance of HIMARS as a launch platform capable of delivering precision effects at ranges far beyond those of conventional artillery.
The strategic significance of this capability is difficult to overstate. Modern HIMARS launchers can be rapidly transported by aircraft, concealed across dispersed terrain, and repositioned after firing. Australia has already demonstrated deployment of the system by air and sea, including transportation aboard naval vessels and ship-to-shore operations. The result is a highly survivable long-range strike network capable of imposing significant costs on an adversary without requiring large fixed missile batteries.
For Canada, the Australian experience arrives at a particularly relevant moment. The Canadian Armed Forces have spent years attempting to rebuild artillery capacity while responding to NATO commitments, Arctic security requirements, and evolving threats in Europe and the Indo-Pacific. Canada’s efforts to strengthen defence cooperation and industrial integration with the United States have increasingly focused on ammunition production, sustainment, and interoperability.
However, that situation changed significantly with Ottawa’s recent confirmation that it will acquire 26 M142 HIMARS launchers through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program as part of the Army’s Long-Range Precision Strike (Land) project. The acquisition, valued at approximately $2.6 billion, includes not only the launchers themselves but also a substantial package of munitions, training systems, spare parts, technical support, communications equipment, and contractor logistics services. Deliveries are expected to begin later this decade, with the capability intended to form the backbone of Canada’s future long-range fires force.
The package is notable for the depth of its ammunition inventory. Canada is set to receive 132 pods of M31A2 GMLRS Unitary rockets, 132 pods of M30A2 GMLRS Alternative Warhead rockets, 32 pods each of the Extended Range GMLRS variants, and 64 ATACMS tactical missile pods. The agreement also includes practice rockets, training equipment, radios, technical manuals, integration support, test equipment, and sustainment packages designed to ensure the systems can be fielded effectively from the outset. Rather than purchasing launchers alone, Canada is acquiring an entire long-range strike ecosystem.
The significance of the procurement, however, extends beyond the numbers. According to Canadian Army modernization plans, the new capability will increase the force’s strike range from roughly 30 kilometres today to more than 300 kilometres, fundamentally changing how Canada can contribute to Arctic sovereignty missions, the coastal defence of North America’s northern approaches, continental defence, and expeditionary deployments alongside NATO allies. It will also establish the Army’s first dedicated rocket artillery capability in decades, providing commanders with the ability to engage critical targets far beyond the reach of conventional tube artillery.
That said, while Canada’s procurement of HIMARS and ATACMS represents a major step forward, it should be viewed as a beginning rather than an end state. Allied militaries like Australia are already moving toward the Precision Strike Missile as their next-generation weapon as it offers operational-level fires, extending beyond 500 kilometres, and will soon be able to reach targets beyond 1,000 kilometres while incorporating advanced seekers capable of engaging moving maritime targets, further expanding the strategic value of the HIMARS ecosystem.
Consequently, for Canada, acquiring PrSM alongside its future HIMARS fleet would provide several advantages. First, the system would deliver a genuine long-range deterrent capability that extends well beyond the reach of current ATACMS inventories. Second, it would enhance interoperability with the United States and other NATO allies already transitioning toward the missile and third, it would provide a flexible capability applicable to numerous combat scenarios including Indo-Pacific, European, and Arctic contingencies. Finally, participation in the broader HIMARS and missile ecosystem could create opportunities for Canadian industry to contribute to North American missile and ammunition supply chains, similar to Australia’s evolving model.
Australia’s recent missile-production success illustrates a broad lesson: sovereign defence capability is increasingly tied to industrial capacity. The ability to manufacture or assemble key munitions domestically reduces vulnerability to supply-chain disruptions during crises and ensures armed forces can sustain operations over extended periods. The Land Down Under is now among a very small group of countries producing GMLRS rockets, a development that strengthens both national resilience and allied capacity.
For Canada, the challenge is not simply acquiring advanced weapons but determining how to sustain them over the long term. Australia’s success demonstrates that sovereign missile production does not necessarily require building an entirely independent defence-industrial base from scratch. Instead, Canada could pursue a phased approach focused on becoming a trusted North American production partner for key components, subassemblies, and eventually complete munitions.
One option would be to leverage Canada’s existing aerospace and advanced manufacturing sectors to establish domestic production of rocket motors, guidance components, launch canisters, and warhead assemblies under licence agreements with allied manufacturers. Canadian firms already possess significant expertise in precision machining, electronics, composites, and aerospace integration—capabilities that could be adapted to missile production with comparatively modest investment.
Another opportunity lies in expanding Canada’s role within the broader North American defence supply chain. Rather than attempting to replicate entire U.S. production lines, Canadian facilities could specialize in high-demand components that currently face bottlenecks, including solid rocket propellants, energetics, seeker technologies, and precision navigation systems. Such an approach would strengthen both Canadian sovereignty and allied resilience while avoiding unnecessary duplication of existing industrial capacity.
Furthermore, Canada could also explore the creation of a dedicated Arctic and long-range fires innovation program bringing together government laboratories, universities, and private industry. Similar to Australia’s Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance initiative, such a program could accelerate the development of next-generation technologies including autonomous target acquisition, advanced propulsion systems, loitering munitions, and long-range anti-ship capabilities optimized for northern environments.
Perhaps most ambitious would be the establishment of a Canada-U.S. co-production framework for advanced munitions such as GMLRS, Extended Range GMLRS, and eventually Precision Strike Missiles. Given the deeply integrated nature of North American defence industries, a co-production model could allow Canada to manufacture selected missile components domestically while benefiting from American technology, certification, and export networks. Such an arrangement would not only enhance wartime resilience but also ensure that Canadian forces retain access to critical munitions during periods of heightened demand.
Ultimately, the growing importance of long-range precision fires suggests that missile production may become as strategically important in the twenty-first century as aircraft manufacturing was in the twentieth. For Canada, the question is no longer whether advanced strike munitions will be required, but whether the country intends to play a meaningful role in producing them. Australia’s recent experience suggests that sovereign capability and allied integration can reinforce one another—and that middle powers willing to invest in domestic production can gain both military and economic advantages.
Canada’s defence planners often face difficult procurement choices between readiness, affordability, and industrial development. Yet Australia’s experience suggests these objectives need not be mutually exclusive. By pairing HIMARS acquisitions with a long-term strategy for missile production and sustainment, Canberra is building both military capability and industrial resilience simultaneously.
As NATO enters an era defined by long-range precision fires, Canada may soon face a strategic question that Australia has already answered: whether to remain primarily a consumer of advanced strike capabilities or become an active contributor to the allied missile enterprise. If recent developments in Australia are any indication, the answer may ultimately require more HIMARS launchers, more missiles, and a far greater emphasis on sovereign production than Canada has traditionally pursued. And with PrSM now having moved from the test range to the battlefield, the case for investing in the full HIMARS family of capabilities has become considerably stronger.
