Adam Gilmour, CEO, Co-Founder of Gilmour with ERIS Block 1, Australia's dual-use capable rocket (Photo courtesy Gilmour Space via Echo, March 1, 2024)
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Biden is merely using the Virginia mirage to feed Australian hopes until the UK tools up Osborne to merely begin building Australian SSN-AUKUS's for launches at Osborne starting around 2051.
In any case China will not be deterred by merely conventionally armed Australian SSNs.
Rather than SSNs, Australia could more quickly develop should ICBMs, which is were Gilmour Space Technologies comes in.
https://www.gspace.com/about Founded by two brothers in Gold Coast, Queensland, GILMOUR SPACE is a venture-capital-backed Australian launch services company that is developing new capabilities for launching satellites to space.
Since starting its rocket program in 2015, Gilmour Space has become the leading provider of Australian-made launch vehicles and satellite platforms that will lower the cost of accessing space.
Reported in February 2018 https://www.spacetechasia.com/gilmour-space-nasa-sign-space-act-agreement/ "Australia and Singapore-based rocket company, Gilmour Space Technologies, has entered into a Space Act Agreement with the US National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) to collaborate on various research, technology development and educational initiatives, according to Gilmour’s press release."
See Queensland's Gilmour Space dual-use ERIS rocket-missile project https://www.gspace.com/launch .
Specifications: https://www.gspace.com/launch ERIS will be 25m tall, 3 stage, diameter 2m tapering to 1.5m (average 1.75m), weighing "over 30 tonnes"
Very significantly https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-27/historic-australian-orbital-rocket-launch-remote-queensland/103265210 [ERIS with a clean missile shape ie. no strap-on side boosters] "is powered by five hybrid engines that contain a solid fuel and a liquid oxidiser."...."During the 1950s American and British made rockets were launched from the Woomera testing range in South Australia, and if ERIS is successful would make Australia just the 12th nation to have access to the technology."
"We have global competitors and they get significantly more funding in their countries than we get from ours," argues Mr Gilmour who is a former banker and lifelong space enthusiast.
"So I think Australia has to have a real good think about what it wants and realise that all of our major allies are pouring hundreds of millions to billions of dollars into launch capability and we're not."
On March 1, 2024 The [Byron Bay] Echo reported https://www.echo.net.au/2024/03/first-australian-made-and-owned-rocket-test-flight-coming/ “The [ERIS] rocket, developed on the Gold
Coast, was recently transported to the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in north
Queensland to be assembled and is looking to launch in the next few months.
Pete Comment
Gilmour's civilian ERIS Block 1 is to be launched at the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in Abbot Point North Queensland, in 2024 or 2025.
If a military variant is developed launch testing might move to RAAF Woomera Range Complex in South Australia. Woomera, is about the size of Pennsylvania and had 7,000 base staff and families at its peak. Woomera has the space and much measuring equipment for large missile tests.
An Australian MRBM to ICBM: Some Woomera History
Two successful launches at Woomera of the UK’s Blue Streak MRBM occurred, one in October 1964 and the other in March 1965 . Significantly Blue Streak was 24m tall only a metre shorter than ERIS.
Blue Streak was finally cancelled a few years after the first UK Resolution-class SSBN with the US provided the Polaris SLBM solution, was in service.
Australia has a rich heritage of missile delivery and nuclear weapon tests. Much knowledge, plans and designs have been quietly retained in Canberra. The video here and above and description below is courtesy of Youtube user Steve.
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Later the UK’s 18 tonne Black Arrow satellite launch vehicle carried out 4 test launches from Woomera between 1969 and 1971.
ERIS Block 1 an 2's Similarity to Minuteman IIIs
It is significant that the US Minuteman III (also see) with 3 stages, solid fuelled, 34 tonnes, 1.85m diameter (compared to ERIS 1's average 1.75m at just over 30 tonnes) has specs similar to Australia's proposed dual-use capable ERIS.
ERIS 2 is planned to be capable of lifting a payload of 1,000kg to LEO. This would be more than enough to carry a Minuteman III's payload of Mark12-A Reentry Vehicle(s) the required 8,000nm to reach China. This is if the Minuteman III's, or ERIS 2's, payload is 3 x W78s, weighing 340kg total.
Nuclear War
Perhaps a minimum of 50 x future Australian "Eagle" Block 4 ICBMs could be situated in hardened silos in the northern sector of Woomera, near Australia's centre, far from coasts. This would give them the longest "launch on warning" period. So at least 20 with 5 warheads, jammers and decoys could survive as a second strike against anywhere in China or even Russia's Pacific Fleet nuclear submarine base on the Kamchatka Peninsula .