China became the first country to successfully test its first state of art hypersonic aircraft on Friday night which can carry nuclear warheads.
The state-run China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA) said in a statement that China has successfully tested its first cutting-edge hypersonic aircraft which could carry nuclear warheads and penetrate any current generation anti-missile defence systems. The Xingkong-2 or Starry Sky-2 was launched in a target range located in Northwest China on Friday last.
The two superpowers, United States of America and Russia have been carrying out similar experiments.
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Launched in a rocket, China’s wave rider was released in the air after about 10 minutes. It flew independently, made large-angle turning maneuvers, and landed in the targeted area as planned, the statement said.
Chinese official media on Monday said that the flight vehicle reached 30 km in altitude at Mach 5.5-6.
CAAA in collaboration with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation designed the hypersonic aircraft.
A Military expert Song Zhongping told state-run Global Times, “Wave rider is a flight vehicle that flies in the atmosphere and uses shockwaves generated by its own hypersonic flight with the air to glide at high speed.”
“Announcing the successful test to the public indicates that China must have already made a technological breakthrough with the weapon,” Song said.
The wave rider is expected to be tested more frequently in future before being handed over for deployment to the People’s Liberation Army, he said.
He also added that the current generation of anti-missile defence systems is mainly designed to intercept cruise and ballistic missiles, which are either slower or easier to predict, making them possible to intercept. The trajectory of a wave rider is relatively unpredictable due to the glide mechanism and it flies so fast that it poses an extreme challenge to current anti-missile defence systems, Song said.
According to an official statement, various parameters were proved and the flight vehicle was fully recovered, which marks the successful launch of Xingkong-2 and the first flight of a Chinese wave rider.
Any rocket has the potential of launching a wave rider, and the wave rider can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads, Song said.
“The test showed that China is advancing shoulder-to-shoulder with the US and Russia,” Song said. In addition to its military use, the hypersonic flight vehicle may also see civil use in the future, an unnamed military expert, told the Global Times.
“If the hypersonic technology matures, it may see other applications including industrial transport,” the expert said.
In 2018, China announced their budget to be 1.11 trillion yuan ($175 billion), which represents an 8.1% increase, since 2017 budget.