The United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia will collaborate on hypersonic weapons.
The leaders of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States – known as AUKUS – have agreed to collaborate on hypersonic weapons and electronic warfare capabilities. The development comes after the three countries formed the AUKUS defence alliance in September last year, prompting Australia to cancel a contract for a conventional French submarine in favour of a nuclear submarine programme supported by the US and UK, causing a rift with French President Emmanuel Macron. The AUKUS leaders – UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US President Joe Biden, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison – said in a joint statement on Tuesday that they were pleased with the progress of the programme for conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines for Australia, and that the allies would cooperate in other areas as well. "We... committed today to begin new trilateral cooperation on hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, as well as electronic warfare capabilities, as well as to expand i