April 6 (UPI) — The United States, Australia and Britain announced that they will work together to accelerate development of advanced hypersonic capabilities amid an arms race with China and Russia over the weaponry.
The allies, which formed the AUKUS security pact in the fall, announced the decision Tuesday, saying they will also work on improving electronic warfare and advanced cyber capabilities as well as expand information sharing and deepen defense innovation cooperation.
“These initiatives will add to our existing efforts to deepen cooperation on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and additional undersea capabilities,” the trio said in a joint statement. “As our work progresses on these and other critical defense and security capabilities, we will seek opportunities to engage allies and close partners.”
The announcement was made amid concerns the United States is being outpaced to develop hypersonic weapons by Russia but especially China as the two countries have conducted several successful launches of such weapons systems.
Hypersonic weaponry travel at speeds of at least Mach 5, which is five times faster than the speed of sound and considerably faster than traditional missiles, making them harder to intercept.
Last month, President Joe Biden confirmed that Russia used a hypersonic missile in its war against Ukraine, and China has announced several successful tests of its own program.
A report from the Congressional Research Service on March 17 says funding for hypersonic weapons has been relatively restrained in the United States though there is growing interest in the system in both the Pentagon and Congress due to Russian and Chinese advances.
The Pentagon’s budget request for fiscal year 2022 included a $600 million increase for hypersonic research compared to the year before for a total of $3.8 billion. For fiscal year 2024, its ask increased to $4.7 billion, reflecting this growing interest.
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz during a heated exchanged with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a House armed services committee budget meeting on Tuesday listed trailing China in hypersonic weaponry development as one of the federal department’s failures.
“What do you mean we’re behind in hypersonics?” Austin responded. “How do you make that assessment?”
“I make that assessment because China is fielding hypersonic weapons systems and we’re still developing them. I make that assessment because Russia actually used one,” Gaetz said. “By the way, your own people brief us that we’re behind and China is winning.”
Announced in September, the trio-nation alliance is focused on deepening military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region while linking Britain, and through it Europe, to those strategic pursuits.
Though White House officials have said the alliance is was not formed to combat one particular nation but to advance U.S. strategic interests and uphold the international rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region, the United States has accused China of pursuing destabilizing activities in that area of the world.
As part of the original announcement, the United States agreed to share its nuclear-powered submarine technology with Australia, which caused a rift between Canberra and Paris as the Morrison government scraped a multi-billion-dollar deal for French submersibles.
The statement on Tuesday says the three parties are “pleased” with the progress made for Australia to establish a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine fleet and that they are “fully committed to establishing a robust approach to sharing naval propulsion technology with Australia that strengthens the global non-proliferation regime.”
Last month, Prime Minster Scott Morrison announced plans for a new $7.8 billion submarine base for Australia’s east coast to support the effort.
Australia on Tuesday is also announced a $2.7 billion deal to equip its fighter jets with long-range strike missiles by 2024 amid growing global threats and increasingly assertiveness of China.
