LAST year, during a naval exercise off California, a dummy missile fired at an American warship roared through the cruiser’s defences and slammed into its superstructure, starting a fire and injuring two sailors. The dummy missile, with no warhead fitted, punched a hole half a metre wide in the port side of the guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorville, which returned to port for repairs. When a similar American missile was fired at the Australian frigate HMAS Perth in an exercise off Hawaii, the Australian crew shot it down using technology developed in the suburbs of Canberra and Adelaide. The Australian...