UK company to help Australia build missile laser defences

QINETIQ, the UK defence contractor, has signed a deal to help Australia develop a laser weapon to help it counter missile threats.

The company is already spearheading a plan to develop a hypersonic missile-killing directed energy weapon in the UK called Dragonfire, with partners including Leonardo UK and missile company MBDA.

Countries around the world are interested in the technology because it offers a credible challenge to so-called hypersonic missiles, which move at speeds faster than 3,800 miles per hour and are hard to hit with physical weaponry.

Qinetiq’s Dragonfire is being developed to hit missiles, drones and other enemy targets. Using electric power, it

‘The three-year £7.3m contract is a critical sovereign industrial capability for the country’

does not require ammunition, which is an advantage at a time when the West is burning through missile stockpiles by donating them to Ukraine.

The three-year A$13m (£7.3m) contract to deliver a prototype and develop a manufacturing base in Australia is a “critical sovereign industrial capability” for the country, it said.

Typical rockets fly at about Mach 3, while hypersonics travel at Mach 5 or faster. As well as being incredibly fast, they have an unpredictable flight path that makes them hard to track. This combination is thought to be a particular threat to sole warships as the time to respond would be minimal.

Qinetiq’s Dragonfire project moved a step closer to production after tests at Porton Down defence labs in November. It was fired at long range to demonstrate its accuracy in tests that were described as a “really major milestone” by Steve Wadey, the chief executive.