The UK has announced to equip its armed forces with hypersonic cruise missiles by the end of 2030.
According to The Telegraph, the military chiefs are stressed to catch up with the US, China and Russia by developing a weapon that can fly at speeds higher than March 5, five times the speed of sound.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) has instructed that the new weapon be entirely designed and built in Britain, and the deadline for it to enter service is 2030.
The plan comes after the Britain Prime Minster Rishi Sunak decided to uplift the defense budget to £75 billion for the next six years.
Without disclosing the details of the plans due to national security, the MoD confirmed, “We are pursuing hypersonic technologies to further develop UK sovereign advanced capabilities. We continue to invest in our equipment to meet current and future threats.”
Meanwhile, the sources involved in the project revealed that the construction of missiles would be difficult because some of the required materials do not exist and must be developed from scratch.
Moreover, the missile plan is currently in the early stages, and a decision regarding whether the missile will be launched from land, air or sea has yet to be made.
