The United Kingdom, the United States and Australia have revisited their defence alliance,  agreeing to collaborate on hypersonic and anti-hypersonic weapons.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, AUKUS leaders Boris Johnson, U.S. President Joe Biden and Australian PM Scott Morrison said the alliance would cooperate in other areas. 

“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 statement said. 

Though Australia’s nuclear‑powered submarine program has recorded progress, the three countries have turned to hypersonic and anti-hypersonic weapons. This is in light of Russia’s use of hypersonic missiles in the invasion of Ukraine. 

In March, Russia said it launched its Kinzhal hypersonic missiles for the first time to destroy a weapons storage site in Ukraine.

Hypersonic missiles are designed to fly at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound. Their speed and ability to manoeuvre themselves to a target make them extremely difficult to track and shoot down.

According to a 2018 report, Russia’s Kinzhal hypersonic missile is an air-to-ground weapon carried on Russian MiG-31K fighter jets and has a reported range of 1,240 miles (2,000 kilometres).