Mission Black Thorn

Mission Black Thorn is focused on rapid development of technology to degrade integrated air and missile defence systems (IAMD) of potential adversaries.

An initial investment of $61.5 million was announced 22 January 2025 which will see two Australian industry partners develop their IAMD technology to give the Australian Defence Force (ADF) a capability edge.

The awarding of these contracts followed an open approach to market which resulted in funding 9 companies to undertake a co-design effort to address the problem statement:

How might the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA) penetrate and degrade advanced integrated air defence systems so that Defence can conduct effective long-range strike operations, taking into account speed and scale required to operate in congested and contested environments that is faster than a potential adversary’s ability to react?

ASCA has now entered into 12-month contracts with two of the companies to further develop and demonstrate the capability.

The ability to degrade IAMD systems of potential adversaries at long ranges is a capability priority for the ADF in line with the National Defence Strategy.