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A Watershed Hypersonic Technology Breakthrough: China’s New Hypersonic Air-to-air Missile
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There is an arms race going on among the major powers to develop hypersonic missile technology (missiles flying above Mach 5 speed – 6,400 kilometres per hour).

Russia’s recent test use of the Oreshnik hypersonic missile in Ukraine was observed with awe. The US has also tested its first hypersonic missile – the Dark Eagle, a surface-to-surface intermediate range boost-glide weapon.

China leads the world in the development and deployment of hypersonic weapon systems, first deploying the DF-17 in 2017.

Subsequently, China has fielded more submarine-fired, ground-based, and air-launched hypersonic missiles such as DF-21D, DF-26B, DF-27, DF-31, CJ-100, and YJ-21.

Each features different range and speed. They are also designed for different target types – ground target, maritime targets, or surface-to-air defence. Some of these missiles sport nicknames like carrier-killers and Guam Express.

China has just upped its game again. A new hypersonic air-to-air missile was recently unveiled by the China Airborne Missile Academy (CAMA), a division of the Aviation Industry of China and the main developer and supplier of air-to-air missiles to the Chinese air force.

This is a game-changing breakthrough. Current hypersonic missiles are primarily designed to go after ground targets or slow-moving naval targets (China is the only country known to have deployed hypersonic missiles against naval targets such as carriers).

For a long time, the ability to create air-to-air missiles with such a high speed was considered little more than a pipe dream. The higher a missile’s speed, the more difficult it is to make a turn, especially when aiming at an aircraft that is moving much faster than ground vehicles or ships.

The main technical challenge for hypersonic air-to-air missile is heat management. At speed over Mach 5, air-to-air missiles experience extreme aerodynamic thermal environments, and the missile needs to constantly adjust its flight attitude when tracking a target, which leads to changes in surface temperature over time at different parts.

The entire missile needed to be able to withstand prolonged exposure to temperatures exceeding 1,200 degrees Celsius (2,192 degrees Fahrenheit). This meant that not only the front, but other parts of the missile, including the engine, needed to be equipped with comprehensive and efficient thermal protection systems.

In the face of extreme heat flow impacts, air-to-air missiles may suffer thermal damage, structural deformation and even destruction. The missile’s internal electronics may be disrupted.

How to effectively simulate this complex and transient aerodynamic thermal environment on the ground has become one of the key issues to ensure the safe service of the thermal protection system.

To find suitable thermal insulation materials for air-to-air missiles, Chinese scientists at CASA have used extreme testing methods, including burning samples with oxyacetylene flames, used for welding metals, lasers, and high-temperature plasmas. The plasma flames could reach 16,000 degrees Celsius, according to the project team.

Details of the final evaluations of full-scale missile prototypes were given in a peer-reviewed paper published in Chinese-language journal Equipment Environmental Engineering last month. These evaluations were conducted in an arc-heated wind tunnel.

“By heating the gas with an electric arc, [this type of tunnel] can generate hot air flows reaching thousands to tens of thousands of degrees Celsius,” the project team, led by senior CAMA scientists Cheng Gong and Huang Yimin, wrote in the paper.

The arc-heated wind tunnel can operate continuously for an hour or more, but due to its enormous power consumption, it is “super expensive” to run, Cheng and Huang said. As a result, it is mainly used for the most challenging space missions, such as simulating the landing of Tianwen-1 spacecraft on Mars.

Based on the technical break-through, the new Chinese hypersonic air-to-air missile (yet to be named) has undergone extreme heat-resistance testing and is able to meet the stringent performance requirements of the PLA Air Force.

The missile is believed to have an ultra long range of 1,000 kilometres or more, which can be travelled in 8 minutes at Mach 5.

This is the first official confirmation of the existence of this mysterious weapon, which could pose an unprecedented threat to US military aircraft, including the F-22, F-35 stealth fighters and B-21 stealth bomber.

In a simulated air combat exercise conducted in 2023, scientists with the Northwestern Polytechnical University armed a Chinese J-16 (a 4.5 generation fighter) with this long-range missile that was able to climb to the edge of the atmosphere and come down to an aircraft at hypervelocity.

This has been seen by some military experts as one of the countermeasures being prepared by China in response to the potential threat posed by America’s B-21.

The detection range of mainstream airborne missile warning systems is less than 10km (6.2 miles), which would mean that from the time the alarm sounded to the missile’s arrival, pilots would have less than four seconds to react.

In the US military, neither the B-21 nor widely used large air platforms such as warning aircraft and tankers can reach the speed of sound. Even the powerful F-22 can only accelerate to about Mach 2, making an escape unlikely.

The introduction of this weapon has serious implications for global air combat strategies, especially for the U.S. military and its allies. The U.S. B-21 Raider new stealth bomber, with its stealth capabilities and long-range strike capabilities, represents the cutting edge of American air power, but the threat of hypersonic weapons could force a reconsideration of how such aircraft are deployed in contested airspace.

The B-21 was designed with the assumption that adversaries would rely on traditional anti-air threats, such as surface-to-air missiles and fighter jets. The hypersonic missile, however, could engage even the most advanced stealth bombers at ranges far beyond the capabilities of conventional interception systems, making them vulnerable in ways previously unimagined.

The development of air-to-air hypersonic missiles represents a new frontier in aerial warfare. These weapons offer far greater ranges and speeds than traditional air-to-air missiles, which are typically limited by their reliance on radar guidance and the necessity of in-flight updates from the launching platform.

A hypersonic air-to-air missile, due to its sheer speed, could engage targets with little to no warning and without relying on extensive data links to ensure its accuracy. This dramatically changes the nature of air combat, as enemy aircraft—especially slower-moving tankers, bombers, and early warning platforms—will have limited options for evasion.

The strategic implications of this technology are profound. Air forces must now rethink their defence strategies in the face of such advanced missile technology.

The challenge is not only technological but also economic. Hypersonic systems, due to their complex engineering and high operating costs (such as the expense of running advanced wind tunnels), represent a significant investment.

As the hypersonic arms race continues, China’s lead will force its adversaries to make huge investments in defensive measures.

Bankrupting your enemy is part of Sun Tzu’s Art of War.

(Republished from Substack by permission of author or representative)
 
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  1. guess we’d all better prepare ourselves for the new Greater East Asia Co Prosperity Sphere with chinese characteristics.

  2. If there is now to be a resident propagandist author for the CCP on UNZ, a formal one and not just the usual china suckups and sinosycophants, there must be a counter viewpoint author.

    There is no Yin without Yang.

    • Replies: @mulga mumblebrain
  3. @arbeit macht frei

    guess we’d all better prepare ourselves for the new Greater East Asia Co Prosperity Sphere with chinese characteristics.

    That’s too late– far too late!

    Even the japs were too late to have thought of that idea. Long before they did, some other folks had already forced on other people their own version of “Co Prosperity Sphere” on a GLOBAL scale. Only those who were born with 5 eyes benefited from it though:

    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lVDvxFreC0g

    • Replies: @arbeit macht frei
  4. This is in all likelihood good news! The American empire for all of its talk has only picked fights with targets that can easily be defeated or are already defeated when we enter the battle . With China’s military might and advance defense weapons the empire will be forced to put down the sword ( cannot get wealth if we lose) and concentrate on the plow. No matter if one hates China or admires there accomplishments they are the only nation to rise to a superpower without walking throu ankles deep of blood of other nations. This is noble for peace and prosperity sake ! The Judeo-Christian empires have pretty much led the world since Roman times , but for the first time a complete new idea and people seem to be taking that spot. For peace’s sake hopefully the Chinese stick to commerce as there strong suit! I shutter to think if a nation as mighty in manufacturing and people were as warlike as Judeo-Christian empires have been . That truly would be hell on Earth! Imagine Gaza worldwide!

    • Thanks: Felpudinho
    • Replies: @nokangaroos
  5. @Deep Thought

    well i can say to you is good for the chinks… better late than never.

    • Replies: @Deep Thought
  6. @arbeit macht frei

    better late than never.

    We want it NOW:

    “… Unless former colonial powers are held accountable, they are likely to perpetuate the same colonial habits, find new ways to prey upon nations they deem inferior or weak, and exploit their peoples and resources.”

    https://www.rt.com/africa/610443-former-colonies-demand-justice/

    • Replies: @arbeit macht frei
  7. @Deep Thought

    “… Unless former colonial powers are held accountable, they are likely to perpetuate the same colonial habits, find new ways to prey upon nations they deem inferior or weak, and exploit their peoples and resources.”

    https://www.rt.com/africa/610443-former-colonies-demand-justice/

    IT’S ALL YOURS BUDDY GOOD LUCK!

    • Replies: @Deep Thought
  8. @Henry Ford

    Orange Man has taught us the reason the Ruskies have hypersonic while
    the US have not is the Ruskies were handed the technology under Obama;
    there can be no doubt that this is such a case too, but just you wait for the
    coming super hypersonic.
    – Sounds like just the thing for AWACS, ASW, SIGINT and tankers, and the
    J-20 has conspicuously oversized internal hardpoints; at the moment radar
    seems to be the limiting factor – detection (but not locking) at 400km is what
    they admit.

    Be that as it may, I can´t wait to see the first F-35 with cope cage 😛

    • Replies: @showmethereal
  9. Hypersonic air-to-air missiles have too many drawbacks. The author mentions the difficulty in making turns, but also the extreme heat doesn’t allow sensors to function, it must rely on radar feed from the launching aircraft. Closing at Mach 5 makes it very, very difficult to detonate at the precise moment to destroy the target.

    For long range, a two stage is better. Use an efficient and easily maneuverable cruise missile to reach the target, then fire a regular air-to-air missile to down it at Mach 3. Or use a ballistic rocket to approach the aircraft from above where it has no “stealth” to hide and its forward looking radar will not see it coming.

    • Thanks: Almost Missouri
  10. Anon[299] • Disclaimer says:

    Containing the CIA cocksuckers. Good job.

  11. Neither the DF-17 nor the DF-21 has been tested successfully, or even unsuccessfully, against a moving naval target. Hasn’t hit anything, but it is a “carrier killer”. In another article Hua Bin claims China has a hypersonic drone, the MD-19, but the photos he presents show an object with no engine. Mach 7 with no engine, now that’s impressive. Now Hua Bin is claiming a hypersonic air to air missile “yet to be named”. He has one photo at the top of the article, a crappy CGI phony photo, of this “unnamed” missile streaking along the seashore at a ridiculously low altitude, it’s even got smoke ‘n flames pouring out it’s rear end. According to Hua Bin this wunderwaffen doesn’t “rely on radar guidance” or “extensive data links” but can “track its target” as it “comes down at an aircraft at hyper-velocity”, whatever that means. Hua Bin’s idiocy is hilarious.

    • Thanks: Catdompanj
    • Replies: @nokangaroos
    , @ISL
    , @anonymous
  12. Anon[786] • Disclaimer says:

    America’s policy of destruction and chaos in the ‘greater middle east’ has deep impact on the rest of the world. It scared the shit out of China, Russia and India. More so because of America’s think tanks openly have been calling for the break up of big countries.

    Logically these countries do not want to be playing grounds for Zionist inspired merciless America. Fear has focused their minds. They are doing everything they can to avoid becoming Palestinians, Iraqis, Syrians, Sudanese etc. Each of these countries are becoming formidable on their own right, plus they are in route to form defensive alliance.

    The chances of America dominating the world are gone. It will be a multi polar world or annihilation of living things. It will be multi polar, I guess.

  13. @Bombercommand

    DF-17 and -21 are touted as “Guam” not “carrier” killers; the picture is
    a Kinzhal, and it does not work that way (so what? Most Western sources still
    bandy around artists´conceptions of the abortive Waverider when bloviating
    hypersonic – we do not even have a serious picture of the Tsirkon in flight).
    Of course your objections are valid – Carlton´s arguments for high trajectory
    and terminal guidance at Mach 3 or so are more plausible;
    this is not a tech journal I guess.

    • Replies: @Bombercommand
  14. do chere says:

    This must be the real meaning of the proverbial “peace through strength”.. For decades, the world has trembled when they heard the name of the US armed forces.. Little did we all know that this was just another terrorist organization which when dealt with by a peer opponent, shrivels up and evaporates.. China is making history, just as China is making the US and vassals history..

    • Replies: @anonymous
  15. do chere says:
    @Anon

    One African idiom which when loosely translated says, “that which never ends becomes a bad omen”.. In the end, the US and allies were not going to have their cake and eat it, “for as long as it takes”…

  16. Anon[346] • Disclaimer says:

    Hey Bin, here another one
    US SHOCKED! New Iran Hypersonic Missile Can Destroy US In 30 Sec!


    Video Link

  17. @nokangaroos

    It is the DF-26 that is touted as the “Guam Killer”, so you got that totally wrong. Both the DF-17 and DF-21 are touted as a “Carrier Killer”, and neither has hit a moving naval target, there haven’t even been any remotely realistic tests. You say the pic at the top of the article is a Kinzhal? Let’s hope that the DF-17/-21/-26 work better than the Kinzhal. The “unstoppable” Kinzhal has been routinely shot out of the sky by Patriot. Great practice for our boys. Your asinine tone when refering to the American program is ridiculous. Waverider was tested on the Pacific Test Range, and it hit a fixed land target accurately. Waverider is not “abortive”, simply put on standby because it wasn’t needed. The Unz Review has become an echo chamber for stupid-Americunts-are-totally-outclassed-by-the-lynx-eyed-Russians-and-Chinese. It’s hilarious reading the comments here, for three years “bliovating” that the Ukrainian army is “destroyed”. Oh yeah? Then why hasn’t Russia “won”? The arrogant dumbass Russian Bear has its foot caught in the bear trap it stupidly blundered into. All that is left now for Russia is the shape of the defeat. TUR has gotten very quiet about Russia’s failed criminal invasion of Ukraine, totally understandable, so it has shifted to bullshit articles about Chinese Wunderwaffen that don’t exist.

    • LOL: JPS
    • Replies: @nokangaroos
  18. ISL says:
    @Bombercommand

    The plasma sheath at hypersonic speeds prevents radar or data links (or so it is believed) – Russia may have solved the latter – optical targeting is a possibility.

  19. It can’t be true! Only Whitey can innovate!! The Chows must have stolen this….from someone. Sob, sob.

    • Replies: @nokangaroos
  20. @Anon

    Anon, humanity is already doomed. Just why, and how, all political powers in the West manage to ignore or deny the global ecological collapse, is beyond my comprehension.

  21. @USA invades Israel

    You’re a big enough racist moron for the job.

  22. @Bombercommand

    They do have that target range in the Gobi desert, with a “carrier” on rails;
    you know how the Chinks are, always the cheap copies – cargo cultists, essentially 😛
    – The Jewish-Russian war is not going altogether satisfactorily – 965, 1648,
    1791, 1941, and once more you are driven off the Fat of the Land of the rebbes
    with your mutilated tail between your spindly legs;
    at least Germany and the Ukraine are down but it hasn´t improved your position
    only increased your paranoia; whatever it is you put in your schofar you should
    kick the habit.

  23. anonymous[119] • Disclaimer says:
    @Bombercommand

    Another low-IQ, triggered shitmerican. You stupid fucks should stick to serving Zionists and leave the physics to the much smarter Chinese.

    • Replies: @Looger
  24. anonymous[144] • Disclaimer says:
    @do chere

    God Bless the Chinese for taking the soul of the shitmerican Zionist parasite. If the Chinese ever start taking on ZOG around the globe, the world will rejoice and China will be the righteous master of the house.

  25. @arbeit macht frei

    No. Chinese don’t think like Japanese. The Japanese were emulating the west during the Meiji Restoration. Go back and check.

  26. @nokangaroos

    Nah – the J20 can’t even carry the largest current air to air missile in China’s arsenal. That’s a downside of stealth. That’s why China keeps making the J16…. To carry these:

    https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/longest-ranged-aam-first-service-undo

    • Thanks: nokangaroos
    • Replies: @Looger
  27. Looger says:

    For a long time, the ability to create air-to-air missiles with such a high speed was considered little more than a pipe dream. The higher a missile’s speed, the more difficult it is to make a turn, especially when aiming at an aircraft that is moving much faster than ground vehicles or ships.

    So… the AIM-54 Phoenix is hypersonic, and is so old that Iran ran out of the fuckers during the Iran/Iraq war and retrofitted some Hawk Surface-to-Air missiles on their Tomcats.

    The main technical challenge for hypersonic air-to-air missile is heat management. At speed over Mach 5, air-to-air missiles experience extreme aerodynamic thermal environments, and the missile needs to constantly adjust its flight attitude when tracking a target, which leads to changes in surface temperature over time at different parts.

    That’s why, in DCS, when you fire the AIM-54 Phoenix, it goes straight up to 70,000 or whatever feet to then rain down on the enemy when its energy is expended. It goes to thin air for its high-speed, mach 5 run.

    It’s also the first (possibly due to its large size) radar-guided missile with its own active seeker, which in its later variants could be turned on also in a close-range off-the-rail fire-and-forget.

    This ability to bend the “rules” of air combat favored the Tomcat which could fire its missiles at 6 targets racked separately, then break off to avoid the incoming radar-guided missiles and break their locks by changing altitude.

    The AMRAAM for example, post-Gulf War, when brought in for the Kosovo conflict gave NATO a huge edge as its predecessor – the crap eating Sparrow – required the firing fighter to maintain a radar lock on the target aircraft all the way to interception (while also maintaining contact with the missile).

    The rest of the world has of course caught up with the AMRAAM by now, it “only” goes mach 4 or 4.5 so isn’t technically “hyper-sonic.”

    And yes the Russian hyper-sonic “AWACs Killers” suffer from TOO MUCH speed in that they can’t turn to catch an evading target as easily as slower missiles.

    None of this is revelation or “news” and there is more up-to-date tactical, and historical context info available on the “Growling Sidewinder” youtube channel than anything on this site for example. Dude even has little “classes” or instructional videos that us armchair digital flight jockeys used to have to read giant insane manuals for (Falcon 3.0 anyone?).

  28. Looger says:
    @anonymous

    Another low-IQ, triggered shitmerican. You stupid fucks should stick to serving Zionists and leave the physics to the much smarter Chinese.

    Maybe he isn’t as impressed as you are about CHina “breaking” standards that the USA flew past 50 fucking years ago.

    CHrist, me being a Canadian I know that even WE were ahead of the USA with fly-by-wire 20 years ahead of them, and internal weapons bays 30+ years with the fucking Avro Arrow.

    China China China

    Yeah nothing like copying everyone else’s shit but doing it badly. Their copies of Russian Flankers and other fighters lag behind the originals in engine power.

    The one huge innovation that CHina (and Pakistan) has offered is low-cost, high-tech situational awareness HMI screens in their JF-17 and other (including J-20) fighters. They have integrated radar, RWR (threat detection), and datalink from other sources (ground radar/ AWACs) for amazing situational awareness when looked at against the west’s comparatively antiquated avionics.

    WHich to be honest, may simply be innovation of the time of development, and not specific to CHina at all.

  29. Looger says:
    @showmethereal

    Nah – the J20 can’t even carry the largest current air to air missile in China’s arsenal. That’s a downside of stealth. That’s why China keeps making the J16…. To carry these:

    “Stealth” is the most overblown over-hyped BS to ever be foisted on us dumb peon taxpayers.

    It doesn’t hurt to have a small Radar Cross Section, however the Russians have been using passive IR since longer than I’m alive (even in their old rustbucket 70s Fulcrums with god damned vacuum tube analog electronics) which can detect even the IR-diffused nozzles of the vaunted B-2 bomber. Such was discovered not long after the first Fulcrum defection (Turkey 1989 I think…?).

    It turns out that passive IR can still detect that hot spot in the sky, diffuse it all you want it’ll still show up 20-30 km away.

    WHenever “Stealth” aircraft such as the Raptor use their radar they paint the sky and give away their position on the enemy’s RWR.

    That said, I liove the Growling Sidewinder video where 10 Raptors take on the entire DPROK air force. THey run out of missiles and have to use guns to get those last MiGs! Classic.

    The Raptor really IS the only 5th gen aircraft, and not just because of “stealth.” Its radar can EMP-blast smaller aircraft by frying their avionics (old MiG pilots with vacuum tubes are permitted to snicker here).

    Just ask Paul Wellstone… who was publicly threatened by Dick Cheney days before his plane’s entire avionics suite was fried like KFC chicken before it crashed in poor visibility (ie. instrument landing required).

    As to the point of your post, nowadays modern figher plane doctrine is going the way of “missile trucks.” CHeck out the F-15 EX and SUper Hornets, which carry 10 or 12 AMRAAMS respectively I think, and are basically loitering in the sky waiting for AWACs to direct their fire.

    • Replies: @showmethereal
  30. @Looger

    Stealth is overblown – which is why the Russians never featured it too much even though they did most of the work. And the J20 is not high maintenance like the F22 and F35 skins for that reason too.

    The rest of what you said reads like fanboyism. Not based on reality. If you want neutral critique of weapons – feel free to look at the link. That site is run by people not beholden to anyone’s MIC and hype machines

    • Thanks: Looger
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