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Seven months after its creation, the strategic alliance between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States is stepping up a gear, with the development of technology already possessed by Russia and China.
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550 kilometers in less than six minutes, at an altitude of 20,000 meters. The speed achieved during the missile test carried out by the United States last month speaks volumes about the importance of the announcement made on Tuesday by the Aukus alliance, which since last September has brought together Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. These hypersonic missiles, with or without nuclear charge, and undetectablewill now be at the heart of the Indo-Pacific defense program, in China’s areas of influence, new developments of which have just been unveiled.
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“This test flight of the Lockheed Martin HAWC (Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept) demonstrated in a second configuration our ability to allow our fighters to competitively select the best options to dominate the battlefield,” said Andrew Knoedler, the program director of the Tactical Technology Office of DARPA, the US military research department.
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The United States, which carried out its very first test last September, will make this technology available to Australia and the United Kingdom, which will thus become the only country in Europe West to have this hypersonic strike force.
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The Aukus program will also be extended to purely defensive technologies, such as a laser to deflect the trajectory of an enemy hypersonic missile.
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The Russia twice used this type of missile – the Kinjal – last month in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin recalled that speed made him “almost invulnerable”, a characteristic that Joe Biden recognized as reality. The China itself has similar technology.
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Deflect missiles
The Aukus program will also be extended to purely defensive technologies, such as a laser for deflecting the trajectory of a missile hypersonique adverse.
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In a joint statement, Joe Biden, Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison assured that the original raison d’être of the Aukus, which was the development of submarines, is the same, despite this spectacular development of capabilities of attacks. “In light of the unprovoked, unwarranted and unlawful invasion of Ukraine, we reiterated our steadfast commitments to an international system that respects human rights, the rule of law and the peaceful resolution of disputes, regardless of constraint.”
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