Britain to deploy homegrown hypersonic missile by 2030

China has developed land, sea and air-based hypersonic weapons, including the DF-ZF glide vehicle that entered service in 2018 and is said to be capable of speeds approaching Mach 10.

At that speed, a missile with a long enough range could travel the circumference of the Earth in just over three hours.

Western experts have cast doubt on claims by Russia and North Korea to have produced a true hypersonic missile, with Moscow’s Kinzhal claim to the title dubbed “at best questionable”.

Ballistic missiles, including the Trident system used in British and US nuclear submarines, can already travel at speeds of over Mach 20, but are easier to shoot down because they travel on a predictable trajectory.

The UK is prepared to invest up to £1 billion in its hypersonic project through the defence consortium in the next seven years, although sources said missiles could be purchased from the US if a future defence review found they were needed sooner.

The competition over hypersonics, which has been compared to the start of the Cold War arms race in the 1950s, has prompted debate over whether the missiles are worth their high price tag.

James Black, the assistant director of defence research at Rand Europe, a think tank, said that while the missiles offered “some military benefits”, the money may be better spent on existing technology.

“High cost and enduring challenges to technical feasibility mean that such weapons, if and when they become available to the UK armed forces, are likely to only be available in very small numbers,” he said.

“This raises questions about whether the UK would be better off increasing its stockpiles of cheaper precision weapons and other munitions rather than purchasing too many ‘exquisite’ hypersonic weapons that may be overkill for most targets.”

Once the UK has developed its own hypersonic weapon, it will be shared with the US and Australia in exchange for collaboration on other projects, including AI, quantum technology, hypersonics and undersea drones.