Inside the Anglosphere’s quiet dependence on American technology and deterrence
In today’s world, a nation’s ability to design and produce its own missiles is one of the clearest measures of technological sovereignty – and, by extension, true defense autonomy. Yet among the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations – from the UK to Australia, Canada, and New Zealand – the story of missile development is less about independence and more about reliance.
The legacy of empire, Cold War alliances, and decades of defense integration with the United States have left their mark. London and Washington remain the dominant poles in this system, while other Commonwealth members operate largely within their strategic orbit. The result is a patchwork of capabilities: some nations build, some assemble, and some simply buy.
The UK: The former “queen of the seas”
The United Kingdom stands apart from the rest of the Commonwealth for a simple reason: it’s the only member with a nuclear arsenal. A founding member of the global nuclear club, Britain tested its first atomic bomb in 1952 – just three years after the Soviet Union – and has maintained its nuclear status ever since.
Today, Britain’s nuclear deterrent rests entirely on its Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), deployed aboard Vanguard-class nuclear-powered submarines. The Trident II is a modern, solid-fueled ICBM armed with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs). But there’s a catch: the missiles themselves are American-made, jointly maintained with the United States under a long-standing bilateral agreement. The warheads, however, are British – a peculiar arrangement that perfectly illustrates the UK’s strategic dependence on Washington, even in its most sovereign domain.
In the 1950s and 1960s, London pursued grand ambitions of building a full-fledged nuclear triad: land-based missiles, long-range bombers, and sea-launched systems. Yet today, the sea leg is all that remains. The Royal Navy carries Tridents; the Royal Air Force operates Storm Shadow cruise missiles (developed jointly with France, and known there as the SCALP EG). With a range of around 560 km, Storm Shadows fly low and fast – roughly 1,000 km/h – to evade radar and deliver precision strikes. They’ve seen combat in the Middle East and are now part of Western aid to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Royal Navy also fields Tomahawk cruise missiles – the classic American land-attack and anti-ship system – along with Harpoon and Brimstone anti-ship missiles. The Harpoon, aging and American-made, is set to be replaced by the upcoming FC/ASW (Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon) project, another joint Franco-British venture.
On land, the most potent missile capability comes from the GMLRS rockets fired by M270 MLRS systems – again, American by design, but integrated into British doctrine.
Overall, the UK’s missile forces remain robust yet deeply entangled with those of its allies. London maintains independent production only in narrow niches – portable air-defense and certain missile-defense systems – while preferring joint ventures for everything else. It’s a model that prioritizes efficiency and alliance cohesion over full sovereignty.
Australia: A Pacific power modernizing its defense
Geography has always been Australia’s greatest defense asset – and its greatest vulnerability. Isolated by oceans yet surrounded by fast-changing regional dynamics, Canberra is now racing to modernize its military, and missile technology sits at the heart of that effort.
Australia still lacks a large-scale domestic missile industry, but that’s changing fast under the AUKUS partnership with the United States and the United Kingdom. Most of Canberra’s systems are either licensed assemblies or jointly developed projects adapted from American designs. The Joint Air Battle Management program, for instance, integrates US hardware into Australian defense architecture, with BAE Systems Australia playing a central role.
Australia currently has no strategic missile capability. Its arsenal is centered on operational-tactical and naval strike systems, the majority of which come from abroad. The Royal Australian Navy deploys Harpoon anti-ship missiles and the more advanced Naval Strike Missile (NSM) made by Norway’s Kongsberg. With a range of up to 300 kilometers, the NSM can hit both sea and land targets with high precision, flying low and smartly evading radar.
But the real transformation lies ahead. Through AUKUS, Australia is set to acquire Tomahawk cruise missiles and, in the longer term, hypersonic weapons for deployment on its future nuclear submarines and surface vessels. This shift would effectively turn the Royal Australian Navy into a true long-range deterrent force – capable not only of defending Australia’s coasts but also projecting power deep into the Indo-Pacific.
In short, Australia is moving from a defensive posture to a deterrent one, leveraging alliances to build what it could not afford to build alone. The “quiet continent” is learning to speak in the new language of deterrence – and that language, increasingly, is written in missiles.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: rt.com
