Australia has successfully completed the first test flight of a fully Australian-designed and manufactured advanced solid rocket motor, marking a milestone in the nation’s push to develop sovereign guided weapons capabilities. The 100kg-class Koonibba Rising 3.0 solid rocket motor was launched at the Koonibba Test Range near Ceduna, South Australia, in a flight test conducted by Southern Launch. The successful test demonstrated Australia’s ability to design, manufacture, integrate and test rocket motor technologies relevant to future tactical missile systems. The trial also validated real-time monitoring of flight vehicle and rocket motor performance data, while enabling recovery of the flight vehicle for inspection and data validation. The achievement builds on the successful static firing of the larger-scale DRACO solid rocket motor at Woomera in February 2026 and demonstrates a pathway for the domestic development, manufacture, testing and evaluation of future rocket motors.