USA, UK and Australia to Focus on Developing Hypersonic Missiles

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USA, UK and Australia to Focus on Developing Hypersonic Missiles
07 Apr 2022
4 min read

News Synopsis

Amid fears that the United States and its allies are lagging behind potential rivals, including China, in testing weapons, the military partnership between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia will focus on the development of hypersonic missiles. 

The three-way alliance, called AUKUS is a key part of the US strategy for the Indo-Pacific, where it is organising a network of alliances that can serve as a counterweight to China. The USA wants to counter China’s influence around the world by providing everything from infrastructure to vaccines and green energy.

According to some defence experts, China has good long-range strike capabilities and is most likely to improve them in the future. It has already conducted hundreds of hypersonic ballistic missile tests. 

Russia is also developing ballistic and cruise hypersonic missiles and North Korea also claims to have tested these missiles. The USA has several programs to develop hypersonic glide vehicles and hypersonic cruise missiles but last year had two failed tests of a hypersonic glide vehicle.

TWN In-Focus