The move comes amid growing US and allied concern about China’s growing military claim to the Pacific.  US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the plan after reviewing the progress of AUKUS, the Indo-Pacific alliance launched by the three countries in September.
The leaders said in a joint statement that “they are committed today to launching new tripartite cooperation on ultrasonic and anti-ultrasonic and electronic warfare capabilities, as well as to expand information exchange and deepen cooperation on defense innovation.”
The United States, Russia, and China have all sought to develop supersonic missiles – a system so rapid that it cannot be intercepted by any current missile defense system.
In October, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that China had tested a supersonic weapons system as part of its offensive effort to advance space and military technology.
Milley described the Chinese test as “a very important test case for an ultrasonic weapon system and it is very worrying,” in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
Russia has used supersonic missiles “many times” in Ukraine, according to the top US commander in Europe.
Last fall, as US intelligence officials became increasingly concerned about the accumulation of Russian forces on the border with Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the country’s arms manufacturers to develop even more advanced supersonic missiles to maintain of the country in military technologies.
The Russian military says the Avangard system is capable of flying 27 times faster than the speed of sound and maneuvering sharply on its way to a target to avoid the enemy’s missile shield.  It has been installed in the existing intercontinental ballistic missiles of Soviet construction instead of older type warheads and the first unit armed with Avangard was put into service in December 2019.
The Kinzhal, carried by MiG-31 fighter jets, has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,250 miles) and flies at 10 times the speed of sound, according to Russian officials.
The Pentagon’s budget request for 2023 already includes $ 4.7 billion for research and development of supersonic weapons.  It includes a design that will have an ultrasonic rocket battery by next year, a sea-based rocket by 2025 and an air-based cruise missile by 2027.
Biden, Johnson and Morrison described the creation of AUKUS as an opportunity to build a greater share of defense capabilities.  As their first major action, the alliance said it would help equip Australia with nuclear submarines.
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Associated Press authors Robert Burns and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.