Experimental Weapons and Depleted Uranium Ordnance

The Shoalwater Bay Training Area is not, and will not be, an experimental weapon testing site or use Depleted Uranium munitions.

There are no proposals for testing and evaluating experimental weapons at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA). The development and testing of new weapons, and their approval for in-service use with the Australian Defence Force, is undertaken at other locations.

Only weapons that have been approved for normal in-service use with the Australian Defence Force are permitted for use on Australian military training ranges - including the Shoalwater Bay Training Area. This applies to weapons used by visiting training partners as well. The establishment with the United States of the Joint Combined Training Capability does not override this requirement and allow the use of non-approved weapons.

As depleted uranium (DU) munitions is not an Australian Defence Force approved weapon it is not used during any training exercises on Australian Military Training Areas.

Strict training regulation controls the use of the in-service weapons used in training exercises. These regulations require rigorous and detailed planning, risk assessment and management and, adherence to strict environmental legislation.

To minimise the risk to troops involved in exercises and to safeguard the wider environment, the use of live ordnance is restricted to limited areas within the Shoalwater Bay Training Area.

Defence, and on occasion its training partners, have held exercises at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area that have included the deployment of approved-for-in-service-use 'smart' weapons and intends to continue to do so in the future. By their very nature, smart weapons have enhanced targeting capability thus actually making them safer.

Read the fact sheet (PDF) for further information on depleted uranium use within the ADF and SWBTA.