Comment: The new generation of RAAF air defence

How and why the RAAF will soon welcome MRAD capabilities for the first time in 50 years.

For the first time in 50 years, the RAAF is acquiring a medium-range ground-based air defence (MRAD) capability to support counter-air operations and protect air bases, command and control nodes, and other critical infrastructure. Although ground-based air defence (GBAD) has been the sole responsibility of Army, the paucity of GBAD assets means that the RAAF cannot necessarily rely on the Army to support their missions in parallel with meeting its own.
The RAAF requires a capability that can operate in a stand-alone configuration and address the diverse spectrum of air-delivered threats. Since this will likely replace a combat air patrol, the RAAF requires an MRAD capability. Short and medium-range GBAD systems are optimised to defeat air-breathing targets (ABT) that includes fixed and rotary wing aircraft, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), while long-range systems are generally optimised towards ballistic missile threats.

Cruise missiles, the adversary’s weapon of choice, are affordable and available to a wide range of state and non-state actors and can be deployed from a variety of air, land, surface and sub-surface platforms. These are often used in the preliminary stages of hostilities; in open conflict; and often launched from distances well beyond the range of GBAD systems, as seen in Ukraine which has seen many coordinated cruise missile salvos strike on strategic assets and critical infrastructure.