The United States(US), the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia announced on Tuesday that these nations under the AUKUS trilateral security agreement will develop nuclear-capable hypersonic weapons.
“We also committed today to commence new trilateral cooperation on hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, and electronic warfare capabilities, as well as to expand information sharing and to deepen cooperation on defence innovation,” the UK government said in a press release.
The release also said that the nations will extend cooperation in the fields of cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and additional undersea capabilities. The AUKUS, however, has kept the door open for other allies to join the weapons development programme.
“As our work progresses on these and other critical defence and security capabilities, we will seek opportunities to engage allies and close partners,” the release further added.
It is worth mentioning that the announcement comes days before Union defence minister Rajnath Singh and Union minister for external affairs S Jaishankar’s visits to Washington and Tokyo where they are to hold 2+2 ministerial dialogues with their counterparts. The US also said that it expects India to ‘downscale’ Russian military equipment.
The timing of the announcement also coincides with the visit of UK prime minister Boris Johnson to New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It however remains unclear whether India will be asked to join the program.
India remains a key partner of Australia, US and the west in the region and they have tried to force India to harden its stance against Russia.
The statement released by the UK prime minister’s office also showed that the UK and the US remain focused on the Indo-Pacific despite the situation in Ukraine in a bid to counter China.
China’s development of hypersonic missiles and its tests have rattled the US and it is also concerned regarding Chinese missile systems being built in western China, which have the capability of entering US mainland but also poses risks to India due to its closeness to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and eastern Ladakh.
Russia also claimed that it used the Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missile in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv twice during its so-called ‘military operation’. China tested its own hypersonic missile using the hypersonic glide vehicle where the missiles are initially launched into space and then brought down on the target using the dedicated aerodynamic craft attached to them.
The announcement by AUKUS comes ahead of the meeting of Quad leaders which could be held during the month of May in Tokyo. Japan has a disarmament and non – proliferation of arms policy but China’s aggressive stance in the South China Sea and North Korea’s missile tests could be used by AUKUS to take Tokyo into its fold.
(with inputs from Nikkei Asia and the Guardian)
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