Experts told why AUKUS announced the development of hypersonic weapons
The United States, Great Britain and Australia - members of the AUKUS military partnership, which was established in 2021 - have agreed to cooperate in the development of hypersonic weapons. "Newspaper.Ru" figured out what contribution each of the countries can make to hypersonic cooperation and why they need it.
"We have committed ourselves to start a new trilateral cooperation in the field of hypersonic weapons and means of protection against them, as well as electronic warfare. In addition, we agreed to expand the exchange of information and deepen cooperation in the field of advanced developments in the defense sector," the White House said in a joint statement.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said AUKUS' plans to jointly develop hypersonic weapons "undermine peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region." Beijing initially believed that the AUKUS partnership was directed against its interests.
"This not only increases the risk of nuclear proliferation, jeopardizes the international nuclear nonproliferation regime, but also exacerbates the arms race," Lijian said.
Retired RVSN Major General Vladislav Ishchenko believes that the reason for cooperation was the successes of Russia and China in the development of hypersonic weapons. "This is a completely new type of weapon, against which modern missile defense systems are powerless. This changes the whole strategy of modern warfare. It was often said about hypersound that it would put an end to the "era of aircraft carriers." One way or another, but this is a new page in military history," the general believes.
In mid-March, the United States secretly tested a hypersonic missile. After CNN reported about the launches, the Pentagon officially recognized the tests.
"In the planned joint project of the United States, Great Britain and Australia to create hypersonic weapons, Australia is rather a recipient of technology, it will invest financially. The UK and the USA can provide technology, especially the USA, although they do not get along with hypersound - some systems have been canceled, others are being tested. In this program, the US is much more advanced than the UK and Australia. The US will help allies, not US allies. This is done because China is intensively developing hypersonic technologies, and the AUKUS coalition is aimed at deterring China," he told the newspaper.Ru" Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the IMEMO RAS Center for International Security Alexey Arbatov.
He noted that Australia wants to build submarines with nuclear engines, if hypersonic systems are compact - they can be placed in the launchers of these submarines.
According to military expert Dmitry Stefanovich, the United States, Great Britain and Australia decided to jointly develop hypersonic weapons "not from scratch."
"The USA and Australia are already working on the SCIFiRE project to develop and test prototypes of hypersonic cruise missiles. This project is the result of a previous one called HIFiRE. The new weapon will be a high-precision strike missile, the speed of which is Mach 5. It will be carried by tactical fighters F / A-18F Super Hornet, EA-18G Growler and F-35A Lightning II, as well as a marine reconnaissance aircraft P-8A Poseidon. That is, today the priority task of this project is the development of hypersonic weapons to equip tactical aviation," Stefanovich said.
According to him, SCIFiRE is one of the public hypersonic projects, in which there were many tests, there are open scientific publications on them, it began as an American-Australian, but now it has been "brought under a triple umbrella."
London's intention to receive hypersonic weapons in January 2022 was announced in an interview with The Times by the Chief of the General Staff of the United Kingdom, Tony Radakin. "We don't have hypersonic missiles, Russia has them. We must have them and are starting to develop," Radakin said.
According to Major General Vladislav Ishchenko, "the British are lying in this matter."
"They had designs before, but just not too successful. So, the British aerospace company Reaction Engines, together with BAE Systems, was engaged in the development of the SABRE engine. This installation was intended specifically for hypersonic missiles.
Now, together with the US and Australia, the UK has launched a great hypersonic arms race. The result will be unpredictable. Means of protection will be created, and then even faster missiles to overcome these means. And so on indefinitely," Ishchenko concluded.
Irina Alshayeva