{"id":860866,"date":"2026-08-19T13:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T13:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/860866\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T13:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T13:46:10","slug":"australia-japan-test-co-developed-boobook-laser-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/860866\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia, Japan Test Co-Developed Boobook Laser System"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/dronefront.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">&#13;<br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787147170_556_WhatsAppVideo2026-05-15at09.23.58.gif\" alt=\"The Drone Front\" width=\"1280\" height=\"539\"\/>&#13;<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Australia and Japan have successfully conducted field trials of a co-developed laser prototype in South Australia, further deepening defense ties between the two countries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Project Boobook is a joint defense initiative to build a high-energy laser system designed to optically detect incoming threats on ground combat and littoral platforms. It was tested at the Cultana Training Area and Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) Edinburgh.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The project involves Australia\u2019s DSTG along with Japan\u2019s Mitsubishi Electric Australia (MEA) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, marking the first co-development initiative between Australian and Japanese defense industries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Australian government <a href=\"https:\/\/www.minister.defence.gov.au\/media-releases\/2026-08-18\/successful-trial-laser-marks-deepening-australia-japan-defence-collaboration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">said<\/a> the trials provided insights into the laser system\u2019s design and technical requirements, which will inform further development and commercialization.<\/p>\n<p>Project Boobook<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.minister.defence.gov.au\/transcripts\/2026-08-18\/joint-press-conference-canberra\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Named<\/a> after an Australian owl \u201cthat can see very well in the dark,\u201d the Boobook project supports Australia and Japan\u2019s commitment to enhanced defense and security cooperation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MEA is investing 70 million Australian dollars ($49.5 million) to establish new facilities in Rydalmere, New South Wales, in preparation for large-scale manufacturing in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>Deepening Defense Ties<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The successful laser trials come as Australia and Japan also agreed to progress arrangements for Japan\u2019s use of Australian missile testing ranges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf the Japan Self-Defense Forces are able to conduct test launches of stand-off missiles, <a href=\"https:\/\/thedefensepost.com\/2025\/11\/20\/japan-hypersonic-missile\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">such as hypersonic missiles<\/a>, in Australia, it would be a groundbreaking development, second only to similar cooperation with the United States,\u201d Japanese defense minister Koizumi Shinjiro said in the press conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These developments mark another milestone in the two countries\u2019 defense ties, following a <a href=\"https:\/\/thedefensepost.com\/2026\/04\/18\/australia-japan-warship-deal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">multibillion-dollar deal inked in April<\/a> that calls for Tokyo to deliver stealth frigates to Canberra.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; Australia and Japan have successfully conducted field trials of a co-developed laser prototype in South Australia,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,941,430706,44],"class_list":["post-860866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-japan","tag-laser-module","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}