Australia to build hypersonic missiles in face of growing China threat
Australia is set to beef up its missile capabilities and will help develop long-range missiles that can travel at least five times the speed of sound.
The move, announced overnight as part of the recently forged AUKUS agreement, will see Australia bulk up on defence technology with the help of the United States.
Along with the UK, the three countries have agreed to cooperate on hypersonic weapons and electronic warfare capabilities, leaders said following a joint call.
In a statement, UK prime minister Boris Johnson, US president Joe Biden and Scott Morrison said they were pleased with the progress of the deal for nuclear-powered submarines for Australia, and revealed the allies would cooperate in other areas too.
"We also committed today to commence new trilateral cooperation on hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, and electronic warfare capabilities," they said.
It comes in the face of Russia's invasion in Ukraine and an increasingly belligerent China in the Indo-Pacific region.
The missiles would be able to be fired from land, sea and air and have a range of more than 2000 kilometres, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The announcement from the prime minister's office was short on details, with independent senator Rex Patrick on Wednesday morning vowing to press Australian defence officials in senate hearings today on the missile agreement – something that is likely to ruffle the feathers of officials in Beijing.
While the announcement – and the eventual missiles – is aimed at China, "I think Beijing understands the geo-strategic situation," he told ABC radio.
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The three countries also committed to expanding information sharing and deepening cooperation on defence innovation.
"These initiatives will add to our existing efforts to deepen cooperation on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and additional undersea capabilities," they said.
"As our work progresses on these and other critical defence and security capabilities, we will seek opportunities to engage allies and close partners."
US successfully tested new hypersonic missile in March: report
The US and Australia already have a hypersonic weapon program called SCIFiRE, an acronym for Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment.
British officials said that though Britain would not join that program at this point, the three countries would work together on research and development in the area to expand their options.
The Biden administration is investing in the research and development of hypersonic missiles, which travel at five times the speed of sound.
Earlier this week, CNN reported that the US successfully tested a hypersonic missile in mid-March but kept it quiet for two weeks to avoid escalating tensions with Russia.
The system, known as the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept, or HAWC, was reportedly launched from a B-52 bomber off the US west coast, according to one official.
with wires
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