Australia Tests Boobook High-Energy Laser Developed with Japan for Threat Detection.

Australia and Japan successfully tested the jointly developed Boobook high-energy laser in South Australia, advancing the first defence-industry co-development programme between the two countries toward further development and production. The trials deepen bilateral defence cooperation as Canberra and Tokyo also expand missile testing, naval programmes and operational integration.

Boobook combines more than 20 years of laser research by Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group with electronic and optical technologies from Mitsubishi Electric Australia and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. Tested at the Cultana Training Area and DSTG Edinburgh, the system is designed for land and maritime platforms and uses laser technology to optically detect incoming threats, supporting platform protection and situational awareness. Australia has not disclosed its power, wavelength, range or beam architecture, while Mitsubishi Electric Australia is investing A$70 million in a new Defence Division and manufacturing facilities at Rydalmere near Sydney. The programme is progressing alongside talks to give Japan greater access to Australian ranges for stand-off and hypersonic missile testing and Australia’s acquisition of 11 upgraded Mogami-class frigates.

Related News: Australia Orders 3 Upgraded Mogami Frigates in Japan’s Largest Defense Export Deal

During Trial Salus, DSTG combined data from radar, EO/IR and directed-energy systems into a fused situational awareness display. The trial included the Athel directed-energy laser, illustrating the broader Australian sensor and laser research base that also underpins the separate Boobook programme (Picture source: DSTG)

The project draws on more than 20 years of DSTG research into laser technologies and combines this work with Mitsubishi Electric’s expertise in electronic and optical systems. Unlike several high-energy laser programmes developed around the destruction of unmanned aerial systems, Boobook is primarily described as a surveillance and platform-protection capability. Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said the system can be used from land and sea-based platforms and is intended to improve protection and situational awareness by using a laser to optically detect incoming threats. Its beam power, wavelength, range and optical architecture have not been publicly disclosed.

On 18 August 2026, the Australian Government announced the successful completion of trials conducted at the Cultana Training Area and the DSTG site at Edinburgh. The testing generated data intended to refine Boobook’s design and technical requirements ahead of further development and commercialisation. Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi also noted that the programme represents the first case in which technologies from Japan’s defence industry have attracted the interest of a foreign government and progressed to international co-development.

These details help define Boobook’s likely role. Its stated function of optically detecting incoming threats points to a system focused on warning, surveillance and platform protection rather than a laser designed solely to produce a destructive effect. Installation aboard surface vessels or land-based systems could provide an additional means of detecting and characterising threats without relying exclusively on radar sensors. Public information does not, however, identify the precise target sets involved, detection ranges or whether the system can operate against missiles or drones across a full range of operational conditions. Nor does it confirm a hard-kill function. At this stage, Boobook is therefore best understood as an active optical capability intended to improve warning and survivability, with an architecture suitable for both land and maritime applications.

Industrialisation is already accompanying the programme’s development. Mitsubishi Electric Australia is investing A$70 million in new facilities at Rydalmere in the Sydney area, which are expected to host its new Defence Division and support larger-scale production in Australia. The site provides Canberra with a pathway to convert domestically developed technology into industrial capability, while giving Mitsubishi Electric a permanent manufacturing and defence-industry presence in Australia.

The 18 August meeting also showed that bilateral technology cooperation now extends beyond Boobook. Canberra and Tokyo are working on arrangements that would give the Japan Self-Defense Forces greater access to Australia’s large missile testing ranges for long-range weapons. Koizumi specifically raised the possibility of testing stand-off and hypersonic missiles in Australia, while Marles indicated that the proposed arrangement could cover a period of around a decade and multiple missile categories. Japan has already fired an anti-ship missile in Australia in 2023 and conducted a more complex launch scenario during Talisman Sabre 2025.

This convergence is also developing in the naval domain. After Australia selected the upgraded Japanese Mogami-class frigate design in 2025, Tokyo signed an agreement in April 2026 covering the first three ships of a planned 11-vessel Australian fleet. The programme has become Japan’s largest defence export contract of the post-war period. Both ministers said the project remains on schedule for the first vessel to enter service with the Royal Australian Navy before the end of the decade.

Boobook therefore sits within a broader relationship that now combines defence industry cooperation, advanced technologies, access to testing ranges, long-range strike, naval programmes and joint training. The Reciprocal Access Agreement that entered into force in 2023 already facilitates Japanese military activities in Australia and Australian deployments in Japan, while both countries are increasing exercises with the United States and expanding cooperation in air and missile defence, autonomous systems and undersea technologies. Against a backdrop of expanding Chinese military capabilities, North Korea’s continuing missile modernisation and concerns over the ability of the United States to sustain attention across several theatres at once, Canberra and Tokyo are seeking a defence relationship that is more operationally integrated and supported by deeper industrial links. Boobook is only one element of that process, but as the first bilateral co-development programme, it illustrates the growing scope of Australia-Japan defence cooperation.

Written By Erwan Halna du Fretay - Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Erwan Halna du Fretay holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and has experience studying conflicts and global arms transfers. His research interests lie in Security and strategic studies, particularly the dynamics of the defense industry, the evolution of military technologies, and the strategic transformation of armed forces.