Lasers, 3D-Printed Rocket Boosters to Be Deployed Against Beijing’s ‘Grey Warfare’

Australia’s defence scientists are working on a range of new weapons to combat what Defence Minister Richard Marles calls Beijing’s ‘grey warfare.’

China Coast Guard vessel 5205 collides with the BRP Teresa Magbanua in disputed waters of the South China Sea near the Sabina Shoal, on Aug 31, 2024. PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD / REUTERS/ Screenshot via The Epoch Times

Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles has launched a new strategy that he says will “turbocharge” defence innovation, science, and technology.

The Accelerating Asymmetric Advantage Strategy builds on technical and other input from Australia’s Five Eyes partners. It aims to counter Beijing’s use of what are called “grey zone tactics” in the Indo-Pacific region—something the U.S. State Department calls “gangster tactics”—threats, intimidation, armed confrontation, espionage, cyber-attacks, and election interference.

Chinese aircraft have a history of flying into the airspace of other nations or harassing planes carrying out legitimate manoeuvres.

Meanwhile, its ships have gone from navigating dangerously close to those of other countries to deliberately ramming them. Recently, Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) forces intentionally rammed into and collided with the Philippine flagship vessel, BRP Teresa Magbanua, on multiple occasions.

Despite an international ruling to the contrary, Beijing persists in claiming the South China Sea as its territory, sparking disputes with neighbours, the United States, and its allies.

The Philippines, for instance, says it has identified as many as 203 vessels from the CCG and Chinese maritime militia in the contested Spratly group of islands area, with as many as 71 hovering just over the horizon of the Philippine-occupied Sabina Shoal.

A Chinese Coast Guard ship fires a water cannon at Unaizah May 4, a Philippine Navy chartered vessel, conducting a routine resupply mission to troops stationed at Second Thomas Shoal, in the South China Sea on March 5, 2024. Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

A book published in 2023 documented over 200 coercive military operations and actions by Beijing between 2000 and 2020, during which time Beijing made 460 “coercive demands” against 13 different targets.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not just bullying its South China Sea neighbours but is also targeting countries perceived to stand in the way of its regional dominance, with the United States Navy (USN), Japan Self-Defense Force, and even Canada having been subjected to risky encounters.

Australia has been a frequent target, with incidents such as an RAAF jet being “chaffed” in 2022, and a helicopter having flares dropped above and ahead of it in 2024.

Accelerating Defence Tech

Referring to this strategic environment when opening the Australian Defence Science, Technology and Research (ADSTAR) summit today, Marles said scientific advances, along with joint operations and exercises with allies, were important parts of ensuring regional and national security.

The Strategy “is trying to stimulate the industrial and scientific base of our nation, to see new technologies evolve, and to get them into service as quickly as possible,” he said.

Using a laser that can burn through steel to disable drones and new navigation systems that can take over when GPS has been blocked are among the weapons already being developed under an accelerator program.

In this handout photo provided by Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Chinese Coast Guard hold knives and machetes as they approach Philippine troops on a resupply mission in the Second Thomas Shoal at the disputed South China Sea on June 17, 2024. Armed Forces of the Philippines via AP

Chief Defence Scientist Professor Tanya Monro said Bushmaster troop carriers, made in Bendigo by Thales Australia, were winning admirers on the battlefields of Ukraine.

“But we need to do more together to protect Australia into an increasingly uncertain future,” she said.

She told the summit that the long-range, uncrewed Ghost Shark submarine, 3D-printed rocket boosters, and Monday’s call to industry to manufacture rocket motors were “just the tip of the iceberg.”

She said quantum navigation systems developed by the University of Adelaide and the University of Queensland outperformed GPS in sea trials, while Adelaide-based Fleetspace has just launched Australia’s first low-earth orbit satellite.

‘No Transparency’ About Beijing’s Intentions: Former Commander

However, former Chief of the Defence Force, Air Force Marshal Angus Houston, said technology should not take ten years to develop nor be restricted by commercial imperatives.

“It’s absolutely essential that we put competition aside for the greater good,” he said.

The CCP’s weapons build-up was being done with “no transparency and absolutely no assurance,” he warned.

“We also see China’s assertion of sovereignty in the South China Sea with coercion, harassment and grey zone tactics evident on a frequent basis.”

He said Pillar Two of AUKUS, the non-nuclear component of the pact, was working on advanced cyber technologies, electronic warfare, artificial intelligence, and undersea warfare.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is required to juggle multiple major risks as the government follows a diplomatic course that aims for regional balance while also pursuing a military strategy of denial that aims to deter conflict before it begins.

Sir Angus predicted the ADF would become integrated in a way that no other large force in the world has done.

“I don’t think we should forget the need to get the minimum viable capability into the hands of the warfighter as quickly as possible,” he said.

A review in 2023 identified that Australia faced its most complex and challenging strategic environment since World War II. This was followed by the release in 2024 of the National Defence Strategy (NDS) and 2024 Integrated Investment Program (IIP), both of which aim to create an integrated force.

Accelerating defence innovation, science, and technology and sharing breakthroughs with allies is a key plank of the NDS.