WASHINGTON: The United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia have stated that they will work together to develop hypersonic weapons.
"Committed today to begin new trilateral cooperation on hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, as well as to expand information sharing and to deepen cooperation on defence innovation," US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a joint statement released on Tuesday after conducting a review of trilateral defence cooperation.
The leaders of the three countries, who formed the AUKUS security alliance in September 2021, the newly announced areas of cooperation "will add to our existing efforts to deepen cooperation on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and additional undersea capabilities."
When the three countries announced the formation of AUKUS, under which the US and the UK committed to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, France saw it as a "stab in the back," because Canberra had abruptly abandoned a conventionally powered submarine arrangement with Paris without warning. Furthermore, AUKUS has sparked fears of an arms race between large countries, which could destabilise the Southeast Asian region.
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