Australia and the United States intend to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in missile defence next month, Defence Minister Robert Hill announced today.

Senator Hill said the MOU would formalise Australia’s long-term commitment to participate in the US missile defence program.

"We intend to sign the MOU at the next Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations planned in the US for early July," Senator Hill said.

"The MOU will provide a 25-year framework under which broad areas of cooperation can be agreed. We will then enter into more specific arrangements as we agree on individual projects that will be involved in the program.

"This is a long-term commitment to securing our future and strengthening the alliance. It is unfortunate Labor cannot see the benefits in working with the world’s only superpower to provide greater global, regional and Australian security by offering improved protection from missile attack and dissuading nations from acquiring or developing such weapons."

Senator Hill said the first area of cooperation would involve research, development, test and evaluation of technologies that could be used in the missile defence program.

"This will not only be in our strategic defence interests by further developing our intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, but also provide maximum opportunities for Australian industry," Senator Hill said.

A key initial project would be to jointly undertake some exploratory cooperative research and development activities to investigate the potential for Australia’s world-leading over-the-horizon-radar technology to be used in missile defence.

Other potential areas for participation in the program included greater cooperation in ballistic early missile warning through ship-based and ground-based sensors.

"Our new Air Warfare Destroyers will be equipped with radars capable not only of detecting aircraft and anti-ship missiles but also ballistic missiles," Senator Hill.

"This information could comprise part of the missile defence network to provide early warning of an impending attack."

Australia has had a long involvement in missile defence through hosting a ballistic missile early warning ground station for 29 years as the Joint Defence Facility Nurrungar and now as the relay ground station at Pine Gap in the Northern Territory.