AUKUS deal to include 'Hypersonic Missiles' and 'Electronic Warfare' -

Washington/Canberra: Decision has been taken to increase the scope of the AUKUS Deal, signed between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. All three countries issued a joint statement announcing that the AUKUS deal would include Hypersonic Missiles and Electronic Warfare capabilities. Moreover, the statement said that the cooperation in the defence research sector would be increased further between the three countries.

In September 2021, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States announced a defence cooperation agreement to counter the hegemonic Chinese activities in the Indo-Pacific sector. As per this agreement named the AUKUS Deal, the United States and the United Kingdom will be supplying eight nuclear submarines to Australia. The submarines will be built in Australia and the technologies from the United States and the United Kingdom will be used. Sources indicated that the building of the first nuclear submarine would start in the next one and a half years. China had expressed displeasure over these three countries’ agreement and warned that the arms race would increase in the Indo-Pacific region with the deal.

After that, cooperation in cyber technologies, Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Technologies sectors were included in the AUKUS Deal. The three countries seem to have delivered a message to China by including Hypersonic Missiles and Electronic Warfare in the AUKUS Deal.