An Australian Missile Shield ?

It is being seriously suggested that Australia should invest in some sort of missile shield to shoot down incoming ICBM'S and protect our major cities.  That raises the question of just who is likely to threaten this country with such a missile attack  ?

Without a doubt North Korea and its despotic leader, Kim Jong-Un becomes the only realistic suspect. He is certainly rapidly gaining the ability to build ICBM's capable of reaching the far parts of the world but his ire is concentrated on the United States of America.   Ever since the Korean war of the 1950's the hermit kingdom has seen the US as the power likely to invade its territory. It's rhetoric has been exclusively anti-American.

North Korea has now developed rocket science to the extent that it can field a missile capable of reaching the continental United States - and if headed in another direction - capable of bridging the gap to Australia.    We know that North Korea has test fired atom bombs and has the capability of creating nuclear weapons, but whether it has the technology to fit these to the entry part of an ICBM is questionable.   It would be fair to assume that will become reality in the immediate future even if it is lacking at present.

Unfortunately, the prospect of war between America and North Korea is heating up rapidly. North Korea has threatened to fire four Hwasong-12 missiles at the United States territory of Guam in the Pacific ocean.  Presumably these would not have nuclear war heads and would splash into the sea in close proximity to the island, but it would be something the US could not ignore.

The danger is that both North Korea and the United States of America have leaders who are prone to irrationality. If either miscalculates the results would be awful.  North Korea might destroy several US cities, but the US response would simple wipe North Korea and its people off the map.  North Korea has atomic weapons similar in strength to the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.  The hydrogen bomb makes that look like a fire cracker.

Putting an Australian missile shield in place makes absolutely no sense.  There is no threat to this country and because we have cities spread across an entire continent it would need to comprise multiple sites that would consume our entire defence budget.  The only available option would be to purchase such a system from the United States and the cost of keeping it relevant would be prohibitive.

Australia is a middling power with an adequate defence force to dissuade neighbours from thinking of intrusion.   It is not seeking to become a world military power and it has no plans to develop its own nuclear weapons.  It is not involved in this standoff between North Korea and the United States and there is no reason why North Korea should see us as a threat to their existence.

Missile shields are unproven technology.  The money is better spent on having conventional forces in place to deter aggression.