BAE Systems Australia has announced that it will increase its investment in the development of sovereign Hypersonic capabilities in Australia.

In a March 30 release, the company said it will invest $5 million and draw on the capabilities and expertise of Australian industry and academia to build an Australian “high-speed weapons eco-system”, with the aim of demonstrating a sovereign capability by 2025.

Dubbed ‘Project Javelin’, BAE says it will build on more than three decades of research in the design and development of Australian weapons, autonomous and hypersonic technologies including the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM), Nulka, and the Advanced Short Range Air to Air Missile (ASRAAM). It says Project Javelin complements the company’s existing industrial capabilities in advanced manufacturing and prototyping, battlespace management systems, and flight vehicle platform technologies.

“BAE Systems has a rich history of working closely with defence companies and defence customers around the world, particularly US Primes on weapons programs,” BAE Systems Australia CEO Gabby Costigan said in the release.

“Australia’s future investment in high-speed weapons systems, including hypersonic long-range strike and hypersonic and ballistic missile defence, provides the opportunity for the nation to create an enduring sovereign capability and position the country as a major global contributor in this disruptive technology field,” she added. “It’s so important that the Intellectual Property of new weapons technologies resides with Australia so that as well as developing a sovereign capability, we can continue our work to evolve these technologies over time.”