On 18 November, the 3 partner nations in AUKUS have announced the formation of the Hypersonic Flight Test and Experimentation (HyFliTE) Project Arrangement (PA) that will see them sharing testing facilities and share technical information to develop, test, and evaluate hypersonic systems.

Under HyFliTE, up to 6 trilateral flight test campaigns are expected to occur by 2028 with a total funding pool of US$252 million. Working together, the partners expert to increase the pace of testing and development, taking advantage of the respective strengths by bringing together national efforts.

USA and Australia already have a very close cooperation in place, most visibly centered on the Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (HACM-SCIFiRE) initiative which is instrumental to the development of the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM). The contract for development of the HACM has been assigned to Raytheon in 2022 and at the end of 2023 a framework for up to 407,5 million USD in funding for HACM-SCIFiRE activities was signed, covering work up to the end of 2028.

Australia and the US both expect to adopt the HACM cruise missile, propelled by a Northrop Grumman scramjet, to equip aircraft including SUPER HORNET and P-8 POSEIDON. As of June, the USAF was planning a campaign of 13 test launches by March 2027. At least some of these are likely to be now part of the HyFliTE initiative.

The UK’s entry into the arrangement opens a way for London to also acquire the HACM. Joint UK-US hypersonic development work is ongoing but less publicly talked about: the two countries have worked for several years in a joint hypersonic science and technology initiative known as THRESHER which as of 2023 was to lead to a technology demonstrator under the heading HYLARC.

In support of this, the UK has established a national Hypersonic Technologies and Capability Development Framework (HTCDF) to “facilitate a spiralled approach to technology development through to a sovereign capability”, involving 90 suppliers including defence primes, small & medium enterprises (SME) and academic institutions.

The first wave of contracts has been awarded early this year and Parliament has been told in Written Answers that “the testing of critical sovereign-designed and manufactured missile sub-system technologies continues, including a novel hypersonic propulsion system” on which we have no further public information.

Separately, in 2022 the MOD has funded Rolls Royce and Reaction Engines to work together on the propulsion system for the Hypersonic Air Vehicle Experimental (HVX), a prospective reusable uncrewed hypersonic aircraft. Despite success earlier this year by Reaction Engines and Rolls Royce demonstrating a modified GNOME engine with advanced precooler operating at Mach 3+ conditions, Reaction Engines was recently allowed to fall into administration by lack of investment and it is too early to say what the impact will be on HVX and other experimental projects.

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