Australia will significantly increase its investment in drone and autonomous warfare systems by up to Au$5 billion ($3.6 billion), Defence Minister Richard Marles announced on Tuesday, citing evolving battlefield tactics observed in recent conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Speaking in an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio, Marles said the nature of modern warfare has changed dramatically, with drones playing a central role in both offensive and defensive operations.
“We look at what’s happening in the Middle East right now — you need counter-drone technology as well,” he said.
Australia’s geography, with its vast coastline and relatively small population, has already driven its defence strategy toward advanced autonomous platforms such as the Ghost Bat and Ghost Shark systems. However, the latest funding push will also expand investment into smaller, cheaper drones and counter-drone technologies.
Marles said Australia plans to spend between Au$12 billion and Au$15 billion over the next decade on autonomous capabilities as part of a broader defence modernisation strategy set to be updated later this week.
“Clearly, autonomous systems now are really central to how contest happens, how war happens,” he said.
He added that lessons from Ukraine, where mass-produced low-cost drones have been widely used, underline the importance of having both high-end systems and large numbers of smaller unmanned platforms.
“What you get at the smaller end is mass — you know, lots of units — and that’s what we are seeing play out in Ukraine,” he said.
Australia, a close ally of the United States, has increasingly shifted its defence posture in response to China’s military expansion in the Indo-Pacific region. The country’s participation in the AUKUS security pact with the United States and the United Kingdom includes plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines over the coming decades.
Meanwhile, Germany is reportedly evaluating Australia’s domestically developed Ghost Bat aircraft as part of its own military modernization efforts, highlighting the growing global interest in autonomous combat systems.
