US and UK unveil plans for ‘battle-winning’ new hypersonic missiles

19 November 2024, 09:40

The UK, US and Australia have come to an agreement to accelerate the rollout of "battle-winning" hypersonic missiles.

The three countries will develop, build and test projectiles which travel five times faster than the speed of sound.

It's part of a broader plan to counter China.

Under the second pillar of the AUKUS submarine pact, the three countries will pool resources and knowledge to make sure that weapons, launchers and defensive systems are installed before schedules.

Britain's defence secretary John Healey said: "This work will keep us ahead of our advertisers on the battlefield, enhance our collective security and contribute to maintaining peace and stability in an increasingly complex and dangerous world."

Under the agreement, a so-called Hypersonic Flight Test and Experimentation Project Arrangement will be set up among the three countries.

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It will feature "up to six" joint test flight campaigns by 2028, costing $258 million, the US defence department said in a statement.

Heidi Shyu, the Pentagon's senior official, who is in charge of research and engineering, said: "We are increasing our collective ability to develop and deliver offensive and defensive hypersonic technologies through a robust series of trilateral tests and experiments that will accelerate the development of hypersonic concepts and critical enabling technologies."

In recent years, the US armed forces has invested considerably in the development of hypersonic capabilities.

The navy and army have collaborated on a glide body delivery system, and the air force has multiple air-launched missile programmes in production.

The first pillar of AUKUS opened up US technologies to produce a nuclear-powered submarine in Australia, with the UK's assistance, as part of a broader plan to tackle China in the Indo-Pacific area.

The landmark agreement could also be opened up to Japan, and a second pillar will try to further relax the restrictions on sharing sensitive US technologies with Australia and the UK.

Artificial intelligence, hypersonic and undersea military capabilities will all be undertaken as part of the envisaged work.

There had been concerns in Washington regarding this part of the agreement due to concerns Britain and Australia would not

There had been doubts in Washington over this part of the agreement because of concerns that Britain and Australia would not protect US technologies.