The UK could soon be joining a deadly new arms race to build hypersonic missiles and aircraft, thanks to a new government-backed project.
UK aerospace firm Reaction Engines yesterday announced that it is developing hypersonic military technology alongside Rolls-Royce, the UK government, and a national security fund.
It will see the UK develop its own insanely fast military craft capable of evading all conventional missile defence systems.
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The team says work began around three years ago, and that they are in the process of testing engines.
The announcement follows similar news last month that the MoD is working on hypersonic missiles as part of a $2.5 billion (£2 billion) project with the Armed Forces.
All of this marks the entry of the UK into an arms race where nations such as Russia, the USA, China and others are competing to create weapons that travel at unimaginable speeds of up to 12,000mph.
One Chinese company last year unveiled a hypersonic plane capable of flying at 7000mph, getting you from London to Australia in around an hour.
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Meanwhile, Russia has repeatedly bragged about its hypersonic missile capabilities during its invasion of Ukraine, following its successful test of the 'unstoppable' Zircon rocket in October.
On the other side of the world, the US Airforce is building hypersonic cruise missiles with Boeing, Lockheed Martin and other arms companies that could evade all missile defence systems.
In November, General David Thompson of the US Space Force warned of a hypersonic 'arms race', saying: "We have catching up to do very quickly. The Chinese have had an aggressive hypersonic programme for several years."
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