AUKUS, the alliance between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States is going to work on developing the hypersonic missile. Here’s more on the new development.
AUKUS and its present status
The US and its allies are working on China’s increasing military assertiveness in the pacific region. President Biden along with his British and Australian counterparts announced conducting a check-in with AUKUS’s progress. AUKUS is the Indo-Pacific alliance, launched by the three nations in September 2021. “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 defense innovation,” they revealed in a joint statement.
“The paramount goal is to ensure we get that capability as soon as we can and it’s in the best form that can be working with our partners,” stated Australian PM Scott Morrison. He also added that their development is as per Australia’s plan, first released two years ago.
What is a hypersonic missile? Who has them?
The hypersonic missile is a super-fast system that cannot be intercepted by other missile defense systems present. Preciously, Russia, China, and the US have been trying to develop them. Additionally, according to General mark Milley, China has been testing such a weapon system. This is a part of China’s aggressive action of advancing in military and space tech. General Milley is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to him, the test is a “very significant event of a test of a hypersonic weapon system, and it is very concerning”.
Additionally, according to a top US commander in the EU, Russia has used them against Ukraine. According to the Russian military, its Avangard system can fly 27 times faster than sound. Moreover, it can lock to a target while dodging the enemy’s attacks. The Russian hypersonic missile is fitted into the existing ballistic missiles.