Hey, China, Australia just fired a major warning shot 

The People's Republic of China and its Liberation Army are causing a lot of headaches in the Indo-Pacific

The United States is trying to deter China from engaging in full-scale conflict, but it needs help from friends in the region

Australia just entered the group chat in a major way. It's a summer of firsts for the Australian Army

For the first time ever, the Aussies fired a HIMARS-guided rocket on their own soil

and they also fired a precision strike missile from their own soil

It happened on July 25th as part of the annual Talisman Sabre Exercises

a joint training drill between the United States, Australia, and almost 20 other global and regional allies

Australia is working with the United States to co-develop the PRISM, which is the replacement for the U.S. Army's ATACAMS missile

The prism has a range of at least 250 miles and can fly at speeds greater than three times the speed of sound As was demonstrated at the Mount Bundy training area in Australia Northern Territory

the speed of the prism means enemies have far less time to react to an incoming strike

And I want to take just a moment and say thank you to the Aussies for capturing this amazing

video of the prism firing and hitting a target during Talisman Sabre

This is, without a doubt, the best footage we've seen of the new munition in action

Future iterations of the weapon will increase its range and lethality. New Seekers will also be incorporated so it will be able to hit more mobile targets

and different types of warheads are also being explored. The Prism is designed to be fired from the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System

and from the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS. Australia bought 42 HIMARS launchers from the United States and received delivery on the first batch of the vehicles back in March When Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came to office in 2022 he made a commitment to rapidly boost the Australian Defense Force long strike

capability in the face of growing regional hostility. The country's Ministry of Defense

says the acquisition of dozens of HIMARS launchers and the successful test fire of the co-developed

precision strike missile are proof the Prime Minister is making good on his promises

This capability is very significant because what it means is that the Army can contribute to the Joint Force and can contribute to sea denial

Because these missiles and others like them, when deployed forward, can kill ships

and that helps create windows of opportunity and advantage for our brothers and sisters in the Navy and the Air Force and our cyber and space operators

Overnight it taken us from a land domain that could really engage out to about 30 kilometers to one that today shot in excess of 300 kilometers with a target round

In addition to firing a HIMARS rocket and launching a PRISM for the first time

the Australians also took part in the first multinational HIMARS launch during Talisman Sabre

HIMARS crews from Singapore, the U.S., and Australia worked together in a combined maneuver

to simultaneously hit a target from three very distinct areas of attack

Made by Lockheed Martin, High Mars launchers are some of the best mobile artillery launchers out there today

and they are in high demand after all the success they've seen in Ukraine

So the fact Australia is getting so many of the High Mars launchers

and knowing future versions of the PRISM missile will be accurate to over 500 miles

should create a few more dilemmas to Chinese military planners looking to act more aggressively

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