Australia will conduct a series of hypersonic vehicle tests with its AUKUS partners under a new agreement designed to accelerate the development of the dual-use technology.
The agreement, announced on Tuesday, will see Australia work with the United States and United Kingdom on as many as six “trilateral flight test campaigns” at a cost of US$252 million.
The Hypersonic Flight Test and Experimentation (HyFliTE) Project Arrangement will grant the three nations access to each other’s hypersonics testing facilities and include the sharing of technical information.
At least two new privately operated hypersonics test facilities are poised to open in Australia before the end of 2025 as space companies look to tap into the rapidly growing market.
Hypersonics and counter-hypersonics are one of six immediate priorities under the advanced technologies component of the trilateral security pact between Australia, the US and UK.
The three nations agreed to increase their involvement on hypersonic technologies at a September AUKUS defence ministers meeting attended by Australia’s Defence minister Richard Marles.
Heidi Shyu, the under-secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering in the US, said the agreement will boost the “collective ability” of the three nations to “deliver offensive and defensive hypersonic technologies”
Ms Shyusaid collaborative efforts are already “accelerating the development of underpinning enabling technologies, such as high temperature materials, advanced propulsion systems, and guidance and control”.
Up to six trilateral flight test campaigns are expected to occur by 2028, the US Department of Defense said, with a “total funding pool of US$252 million” allocated. It is unclear whether this cost will be borne by the three AUKUS partners.
The campaigns are intended to “increase the pace of testing and take advantage of combined partner resources, test facilities, and substantial experience conducting similar campaigns”, the Defense department said.
Australia’s chief defence scientist Tanya Monro said the agreement will “accelerate Australia’s sovereign ability to develop and deliver offensive and defensive hypersonic technologies”.
“HyFliTE will leverage our collective expertise and innovation enterprises to deliver hypersonic capabilities at pace,” she said of the agreement and the “robust testing” that will follow.
In September, spaceport Southern Launch revealed plans to set up a suborbital flight test services that could be used by Australian aerospace startup Hypersonix Launch Systems as early as next year.
The plans came just months after the local space technology company Gilmour Space said it would launch its own suborbital flight test service for hypersonic vehicles to meet growing demand.
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