Pentagon Considers Australia as Testing Ground for Hypersonic Missiles, Long-Range Weapons

U.S. Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said that Australia could be a testing ground for U.S. hypersonic and other long-range precision weapons under the AUKUS trilateral defence alliance.

The U.S. Department of Defense launches a sounding rocket from NASA's launch range at Wallops Flight Facility carrying hypersonic weapon experiments that will inform the development of the hypersonic class of weapons, on Wallops Island, Va., on Oct. 26, 2022. Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

U.S. Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said on Aug. 8 that Australia could be a testing ground for U.S. hypersonic and other long-range precision weapons under the AUKUS trilateral defence alliance.

“Australia obviously has a tremendous amount of territory where testing is a little bit more doable, so I think that’s a unique thing, as an example, that the Australians bring to the table,” Ms. Wormuth told Agence France-Presse (AFP).