BRITAIN is reportedly planning to deploy homegrown hypersonic cruise missiles by the end of the decade.
The weapons, which already been deployed by Russia and China, will fly at five times the speed of sound to evade enemy defence systems.
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UK military chiefs are planning to design and create a hypersonic missile in Britain that is capable of reaching speeds exceeding Mach 5, according to The Telegraph.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) wants the weapon to enter service by 2030, as the UK races to catch up with China, Russia, and the US.
Hypersonic missiles have reportedly already been deployed by Russia and China, and the US has multiple hypersonic weapons programmes and are conducting tests, according to a UK Parliament POSTnote.
The UK’s new hypersonic missiles would reportedly be able to hit Moscow in just 24 minutes, their speed and mid-flight manoeuvrability helping them evade enemies’ air defence systems.
More on hypersonic missiles
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week pledged to increase Britain’s defence budget to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product by 2030.
A government defence source said: “Cutting-edge projects like this are only possible because of the massive new investment the government has made this week in defence innovation.
“With Labour refusing to match our investment, continuing this project would be impossible under Keir Starmer – the military would be forced to cut the hypersonic programme, in a move that would make Putin’s dreams come true.”
Plans for the hypersonic missile were said to be in the early stages, with no decision made as to whether it would be launched from land, a fighter jet, or a warship.
If launched from a fighter jet or a warship, the missile would have a shorter range and smaller payload than a larger weapon launched from the ground, but would use advanced air-breathing engines to reach high speeds and manoeuvre towards targets at lower altitudes.
The hypersonic missiles could potentially be fitted to Typhoon or F-35 fighter jets, and would be harder to track than ballistic missiles as they would fly at lower altitudes.
Their flight path and target would also be more difficult to predict than that of other missiles as their manoeuvrability would enable them to change trajectory mid-flight.
The Ministry of Defence, which is managing the program directly, did not go into detail about its plans but confirmed: “We are pursuing hypersonic technologies to further develop UK sovereign advanced capabilities.”
An MoD spokesman continued: “We continue to invest in our equipment to meet current and future threats.”
Russian hypersonic missiles, which the country plans to have used on the battlefield in Ukraine, have been described by US President Joe Biden as being “almost impossible to stop”.
North Korea claimed earlier this month to have successfully tested a new hypersonic missile capable of evading South Korean and US air defences, but researchers said the claim was “greatly exaggerated”.
The UK is reportedly prepared to invest up to £1billion in its hypersonic project over the next seven years – but sources said the nation could purchase missiles from the US if it needs them sooner.
Once developed, the hypersonic weapon will be shared with the US and Australia in exchange for collaboration on other projects such as artificial intelligence and undersea drones.
It was announced in 2022 that the UK, the US, and Australia would work together to develop hypersonic and counter-hypersonic technologies, as part of the Aukus agreement.
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