Recent explosive test at the Woomera testing range in South Australia, September 20, 2002 ©  AFP / Australian Defence Forces


The US could test its hypersonic missiles in Australia, US Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said on Wednesday.
"One thing Australia has in spades is long distances and relatively unpopulated land,” Wormuth told the AFP news agency. “A challenge for us in the United States when it comes to hypersonics … is to find open spaces in the United States where we can actually test these weapons.
Australia obviously has a tremendous amount of territory where that testing is a little bit more doable, so I think that's a unique thing … that the Australians bring to the table,” she stated.
Actually Washington isn’t the first foreign power to use Australia as a nuclear testing ground.
The UK conducted 12 nuclear weapons tests in Australia between 1952 and 1958, and more than two dozen smaller detonations of radioactive material.
A majority of Australians opposed these tests, which caused a spate of illnesses and horrific deaths among  Aboriginal communities and site workers, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
The US, UK, and Australia signed the AUKUS security pact in 2021, with the three powers agreeing to cooperate on nuclear submarine construction and hypersonic missile development.

https://www.rt.com/news/581042-australia-hypersonic-missile-testing/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_tests_in_Australia

The United Kingdom conducted 12 major nuclear weapons tests in Australia between 1952 and 1957. These explosions occurred at the Montebello Islands, Emu Field and Maralinga.




Emu Field

The atomic tests at Emu Field in 1953 were known as Operation Totem. The test site of Emu Field was abandoned just hours after the second and final test, Totem 2.


Maralinga

Main article: British nuclear tests at Maralinga

A testing site at Maralinga was established in 1955, close to a siding along the Trans-Australian Railway. Because supplies could be brought to the site via rail, it was preferred over Emu Field.
A total of seven major tests were conducted at Maralinga. Both the Federal government and Australian newspapers at the time were very supportive of the tests.[6] In 1952, the Liberal Government passed legislation, the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act 1952, which allowed the British Government access to remote parts of Australia to undertake atmospheric nuclear weapons tests. The general public were largely unaware of the risks from the testing program, stemming from official secrecy about the testing program and the remote locations of the test sites.

Before the tests could begin the Maralinga Tjarutja, the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land, were forcibly removed.[7]

An air base at Woomera, 570 km away, which had been used for rocket testing, was initially used as a base from which planes were flown for testing of the bomb clouds.

Utter bullshit. No 50c for you!

Secretary Christine Warmuth was right.
As a member of AUKUS, I think Australia should contribute equally to its own defence. You cannot expect US to protect you for free.
Do not forget that, unlike other Western countries, Australia does not contribute financially to the NATO alliance.

chimera wrote on Aug 10^th, 2023 at 3:26pm:



We are paying $40 billion each for subs costing $5 billion each -
it's a scandal but both the Libbos and the Labs say it's a good deal.


9 subs for $360 billion.

Bobby. wrote on Aug 10^th, 2023 at 3:28pm:


Bobby, this has been explained to you several times before.  Stop being a silly fellow.  The $360 billion the Subs are costing is being paid for training, for the establishment of a naval ship building facility in Adelaide and for preparations to actually build the submarines.  It is also spread over a period of 30 years and is not the upfront costs for the submarines.  If you repeat this bullshit myth again, you will demonstrate once and for all, that you're an idiot.  Tsk, tsk, tsk...   

athos wrote on Aug 10^th, 2023 at 12:44pm:


Nuclear-powered, not nuclear-armed   

Part of the 360bn is lawyers' fees for errors in hull-frame section #463-92 and what the Minister said to Ripper Welding before asking DedSlow Ltd for advice.