Last Monday, the Pentagon announced that the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom had reached an agreement to enhance facilities and information-sharing on hypersonic missiles. The partnership has been named HyFliTE (Hypersonic Flight Test and Experimentation project), with the primary objective of fostering hypersonic testing by leveraging the combined funding, expertise, and facilities of the three nations.
It is worth noting that the U.S. and Australia have conducted similar tests in the past and have collaborated on hypersonic research for 15 years. In 2017, they concluded the project then known as HiFiRE (Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation), a joint secret effort to explore future weapon designs and high-speed subsystems. This initiative will serve as the foundation for the new partnership alongside the United Kingdom.
Although no further details on upcoming tests have been disclosed, it has been confirmed that the funding will amount to $252 million. The agreement is part of the trilateral AUKUS defense pact, specifically its second pillar: technology sharing and advanced capabilities development.
Undoubtedly, the development of hypersonic weapons is one of the primary objectives for the U.S. Department of Defense. This is mainly due to the missiles’ ability to fly and maneuver at speeds of at least Mach 5, making them significantly harder to intercept and neutralize.
According to the U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Heidi Shyu, the nations are enhancing their collective capacity “to develop and deliver offensive and defensive hypersonic technologies.” Through “a robust series of trilateral tests and experiments,” the partnership aims to accelerate “the development of hypersonic concepts and critical enabling technologies” to achieve a strong international position in this field.
From Australia, officials stated that the agreement “will accelerate [the country’s] sovereign capability to develop and deliver offensive and defensive hypersonic technologies through a robust campaign of testing and experimentation under AUKUS Pillar II,” according to Tanya Monro, Australia’s Chief Defence Scientist. Meanwhile, the UK Secretary of State for Defence, John Healey, described it as a “historic agreement” with partners to “stay at the forefront of battle-winning defense technology.”
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