Britain will permit the US to use an air force base at Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire as a site for missile defense shield elements. British Defense Minister Des Browne said Menwith Hill would be equipped with communications equipment and that this arrangement is “a building block to enhance our national and collective security,” according to Associated Press.
Australia’s military will help the Pentagon pursue so-called “air-breathing” hypersonic weapons and more under the U.S.-run Allied Prototyping Initiative, the U.S. Defense Department said Nov. 30. The Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) initiative “will be essential to the future of hypersonic research and development, ensuring the U.S. and…