Australia doesn't need a ballistic missile defence system because nations posing a threat are far away and current defensive technology doesn't work very well.
But Australia should continue to make modest investments in ballistic missile defence research and keep an eye on defensive technologies as they mature, a new study says.
Australia would then be well placed to adopt missile defences if it's later decided they are needed, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) study says.
The US leads the world in missile defences, a process that started seriously in 1983 when President Ronald Reagan unveiled "star wars", a grand vision of a space and land-based systems able to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles with missiles and lasers.
Three decades on, the vast investment has yet to produce a fully capable system.
ASPI said various US land and sea-based systems could work fairly well against a limited attack by unsophisticated short-range missiles of the type possessed by North Korea and Iran.
But defending against a mass attack by longer-range missiles, whose warheads can reach speeds up to seven kilometres a second, would be extremely challenging.
ASPI said the capability most relevant to Australia was the US Aegis ballistic missile defence system installed on some US and Japanese warships, and tipped for Australia's new air warfare destroyers.
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