The Albanese government is putting Australia’s defence future in the hands of drones. It has committed around $10 billion to drone and counter-drone technology.
It is the biggest shift in the country’s military thinking since the Cold War ended.
Defence Minister Richard Marles told reporters that warfare changed dramatically in Ukraine. He said those lessons are now shaping how the government plans for the future.
A $1.7 billion program will build a fleet of Ghost Shark underwater attack drones. The first ones are set to enter service in early 2026.
On the defence side, contracts under Project Land 156 will bring at least 120 new technologies into the ADF.
These include high energy lasers, radio frequency jamming and weapons designed to shoot down small drones.
The government has also passed new rules that let Defence detect and destroy drones that threaten ADF people and equipment inside Australia.
Analysts say a drone that costs a few thousand dollars can now threaten a warship worth billions that has turned the old thinking on its head. Countries can no longer rely on expensive technology alone to stay ahead.
In Ukraine, troops on the front line have been updating their drone software every day and changing their tactics every week. Traditional buying systems were never built to keep up with that speed.
The Lowy Institute has said the Ukraine war has had little real effect on how the ADF operates. It pointed out that Australia currently uses very few drones and has no armed drones at all.
Instead, the country still depends on small numbers of expensive equipment built overseas. Retired senior officers and former defence officials have also warned that Australia has no layered missile defence.
They say military bases and expensive platforms are mostly unprotected against the very weapons now changing how wars are fought.
Defence spending sits at about 2% of GDP or around $59 billion for 2025-26. The government wants to push that to 2.3% by the mid 2030s.
It says it has added $70 billion in defence spending over the decade compared to what the Coalition left behind. But a large share of that extra money is going to the AUKUS submarine program which will not deliver working submarines until the 2030s.
The key question is whether the $10 billion drone promise turns into real, working equipment fast enough.
The 2026 National Defence Strategy is expected to set out how the ADF will reshape itself around drones across all areas that includes setting up new drone and counter-drone units in the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Australia’s security situation is changing faster than its buying systems can handle. The war in Ukraine has made the case clearly. Whether Canberra can act quickly enough is still an open question.
