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The UK government said the UK, the US and Australia would start collaborating on hypersonic weapons and how to defend against them.
The programme will be part of the AUKUS partnership. AUKUS is a security agreement announced by the UK, US and Australia in 2021.
China and Russia have previously developed hypersonic missiles, which Russia also said it used in Ukraine last month.
A hypersonic weapon is one that travels at more than five times the speed of sound.
It is more difficult to defend because it is extremely fast and difficult to detect – it can fly at low altitudes beyond the radar monitoring line on the ground, and it is highly maneuverable – such as it can turn on its way to a target.
The UK currently has no hypersonic missiles. The US and Australia already have a joint programme to develop these weapons, but the UK government has emphasised that the new joint project will focus on defence.
The UK government has also said the UK has no plans to develop its own hypersonic weapons, but the new partnership will help the government assess whether it needs to be developed in the future.
The government also added that the latest announcement had nothing to do with Russia’s use of such weapons in Ukraine, but said the fact that other countries were investing in research and development meant Britain had to think about how to defend itself.
On March 19, Russia said it used hypersonic missiles to destroy an arsenal in western Ukraine, and U.S. military intelligence has suggested the missiles have been used by Russian forces several times since then.
The attack will mark the first time a hypersonic missile has been used in actual combat.
Just a few months ago, China caught U.S. intelligence by surprise when it tested two nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles. Beijing denies it, saying the test was just a routine spacecraft test.
Both missiles circled the Earth in low-orbit space before returning to Earth, and the second missed its target by only about 24 miles (40 kilometers).
These tests show that China’s space capabilities are far more advanced than previously known.
North Korea also said it was testing hypersonic missiles.
image source,Getty Images
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Hypersonic missiles could change the way wars work in the future.
As the name suggests, it can travel at breakneck speeds—at least Mach 5, which equates to about a mile per second. It has a so-called “dual capability” and can carry conventional weapons or nuclear bombs. It can be launched from the air, sea or land.
There are two types of hypersonic weapons: cruise missiles and gliding vehicles. Russia has the cruise class, which can be launched from an aircraft and hit targets more than 1,200 miles away. Gliders are launched into space and then fall in unpredictable paths toward their Earth targets.
Hypersonic missiles are changing the way countries plan strategic defenses for two reasons. For one, it’s very fast, and the time from when a launch is detected to when a country’s leader decides whether to fight back is very short — just a few minutes. And there’s little way to know if it’s carrying a nuclear warhead.
Second, flight paths, especially those of hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs), are very unpredictable, making interception extremely difficult.
Currently, China leads the development of hypersonic missiles, closely followed by Russia, which has used it to strike long-range targets in Ukraine. The U.S. is a late entry, and some tests are not going well.
The UK has no hypersonic weapons and is only now in an alliance with the US and Australia to study and how to defend it.
image source,Getty Images
Announced in September 2021, the AUKUS partnership is a trilateral Anglo-American-Australian security agreement in the Indo-Pacific region, with the primary aim of the United States and the United Kingdom helping Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
The agreement also aims to deepen cooperation in cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and more.
Following the UK government’s announcement on Tuesday (April 5), UK National Security Adviser Stephen Lovegrove said: “Great achievements can be achieved when the technical knowledge and capabilities of the three countries are combined to help protect The safety of ourselves and our allies and partners.”
“In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it is now more important than ever that allies work together to defend democracy, international law and freedom around the world.”