US tests hypersonic missile; Australia, US, UK agree to cooperate on hypersonic weapons
Categories: US NEWS
As part of the new AUKUS alliance, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia will jointly start collaborating on hypersonic weapons and electronic warfare capabilities. The decision has been taken after a call between the leaders of the new defence alliance.In a joint statement, they informed, "We... committed today to commence new trilateral cooperation on hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, and electronic warfare capabilities, as well as to expand information sharing and to deepen 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," the statement read. Meanwhile, the US military said it tested a new hypersonic missile. The US said it completed a free-flight test of an aircraft-launched hypersonic missile that maintained a speed of more than Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.The three partners of the AUKUS alliance said the joint initiatives will bolster existing efforts to deepen cooperation in numerous areas that they already agreed.The alliance, formed last September, aimed at countering China, The had also prompted Australia to cancel a crucial contract for a conventional French submarine in favour of a nuclear submarine program supported by the United States and Britain.The deal had angered French President Emmanuel Macron and the bilateral ties between France and Australia also appeared to be damaged.Important to note that Russia, China, the United States and North Korea have all test-launched hypersonic missiles.