Australia has agreed to work on hypersonic missiles - weapons that can travel at least five times the speed of sound. 

As part of the AUKUS agreement with the United States and Britain, new missiles capable of mind-bending speeds and range of over 2,000 kilometres will be developed.

The plan is to build missiles that can be fired from the land, sea and air, although Australia only has the capability to launch them from ground-based sites.

The new agreement also includes work on new missile defence systems and radars that can take out hypersonic missiles.

China, Russia and the US have been rushing to develop hypersonic missiles in recent years. 

Most of the designs involve weapons that glide on the atmosphere and can  change direction at high speed, making them difficult to track and destroy with existing radars.

The AUKUS partners are developing undersea drones too, with initial trials planned for next year, and new quantum and artificial intelligence technologies as well.

The triad says it is still “fully committed” to developing a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines for Australia.

The University of Queensland has been working on hypersonic technology for over 20 years.