Behind Russia and China in the field of hypersonic missiles, the United States has announced with its military allies the United Kingdom and Australia that it will develop one of these weapons, considered vital in the wars of the future.
It is the second concrete military initiative announced by the so-called Aukus pact, announced to the surprise of opponents and allies of NATO (Western military alliance) in September last year. The first was the promise to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, altering the future balance of forces in the Indo-Pacific with an eye on Chinese expansion.
This angered China, which sought to deepen its cooperation with its ally Russia and even promoted naval provocations in the region, as well as Western countries such as France – which lost a multibillion-dollar submarine supply deal to the Australians.
The Chinese reacted on Tuesday. Its UN ambassador, Zhang Jun, said the move could fuel “crises like Ukraine’s in other parts of the world”, without citing his country’s dispute with Taiwan, usually compared to that between Moscow and Kiev.
The announcement is aimed at China and Russia, which first tested a hypersonic missile in combat in the Ukraine war. Three weeks ago, Kinjal models were used, basically ballistic missiles that can fly at 10 times the speed of sound.
According to Douglas Barrie, senior aerospace analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, there is no military explanation for the use other than wanting to test the capability in a real combat environment and also to advertise to the West. That’s because the Ukrainians don’t have effective air defenses against maneuverable hypersonic missiles.
The message, however, was given. The Russians are developing other models, such as the Tsirkon, in an advanced stage of testing. The Chinese, on the other hand, surprised the West with two alleged tests of these missiles, which they do not confirm, including one with a hypersonic glider vehicle — which Moscow has in operation as well.
Not just Chinese. On January 5, North Korea said it had tested such a missile, although, as in the case of Beijing, there are doubts about the actual capability employed.
It is certain that the US is lagging behind its rivals in this field. The great advantage of new-generation hypersonics, given that any intercontinental ballistic missile also reaches ultra-velocity in the final stages of re-entry of its nuclear warheads, is that its trajectories can be altered in flight. This makes your kill much more difficult.
American tests are at a slow pace, and even the Air Force command has already put the need for these weapons into question, favoring the acceleration of the stealth bomber program to the new-generation B-21 radar. That appears to be changing, starting with a test flight that the Pentagon said was successful in March.
“We reaffirm our commitment to Aukus and a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrisson. They said it was necessary to strengthen relations “in light of the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia”.
In addition to hypersonics, they announced investments in electronic warfare and measures to intercept this type of missile. So far, Aukus has created 17 trilateral working groups, 9 specific to submarines, and also including development in artificial intelligence and cyber defense.
China has already called the group a Cold War-style attempt to break up its strategic backyard into blocs. The USA and Australia are also part of another alliance, called Quad, with Japan and India, two other direct rivals of Beijing. New Delhi, however, maintains a good relationship with Moscow, which brings nuances to the American system of alliances in the Indo-Pacific.
With the war in Ukraine and the earthquake in the international security system, the Indians may find it difficult to remain as the biggest buyers of Russian weapons, second only to ally China. For now, it is the US that has benefited from the crisis.
On Tuesday, Washington approved the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to the Bulgarian government. The deal is worth US$ 1.67 billion (R$ 7.8 billion) and the planes are expected to be delivered in 2027 and 2028. Sofia had already purchased another eight planes in 2020, which have not yet been delivered, to replace its limping fleet. of Soviet models.
Today, NATO provides the defense of the airspace of this former communist country. After the start of the war, the US snapped up sales of advanced F-35 fighter jets to Germany and Canada, in addition to other military orders.
These moves all indicate something that the prewar pact announced by Vladimir Putin and Chinese Xi Jinping already hinted at: the confluence of conflicts for the scope of Cold War 2.0, in effect between Washington and Beijing since 2017.
