nuclear-news

Andrew Tillett, Political correspondent , 30 Nov 20,   The Australian and US militaries will develop a new hypersonic missile capable of flying the distance between Sydney and Melbourne in seven minutes, amid an arms race with China and Russia.
The two governments will sign an agreement on Tuesday to collaborate on research, build and test hypersonic cruise missiles that can fly at five times the speed of sound and are able to sink an aircraft carrier.

Missiles the Royal Australian Air Force is helping to develop under the Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) could one day be fitted to the RAAF’s strike aircraft including the F/A-18F Super Hornet and F-35 joint strike fighter. They could also be fitted to the P-8A Poseidon surveillance plane.

Local defence companies, particularly in the small and medium enterprises field, will be tapped to contribute to the project, which is expected to take between five and 10 years to bring a precision-guided missile to fruition.

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said the experiment would culminate in flight tests to see how the weapon performed in operational conditions to guide on future acquisitions.

As part of the Morrison government’s 2020 force structure plan, $9.3 billion was allocated for high-speed, long-range strike and missile defence including hypersonic development, in a bid to keep adversaries away from Australian shores. ….. https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/australia-to-help-develop-hypersonic-missiles-20201130-p56j75