China Finds New Breakthrough in Hypersonic Missile Technology Research, World Fastest Drone

 

China has reportedly achieved a breakthrough in its research into hypersonic missile technology, which could give the communist country a decisive edge over its arch-rival us. Hypersonic weapons, capable of traveling at five times or more the speed of sound, minimum speed of 1.6 kilometers per second are the new focus of the global arms race.

The us, Russia and China are developing and testing these ultra-fast munitions with a latter two being far more successful.

Hypersonic weapons are of two types, hypersonic cruise missiles and hypersonic boost glide vehicles. The former type is powered by rockets or jets throughout their flight and is a much swifter version of existing cruise missiles.

The latter type is launched into the upper atmosphere on top of existing ballistic missiles and then releases hypersonic glide vehicles, hgvs which fly lower, faster and to an enemy, quite unpredictably.

China has two lethal hypersonic missiles. The first one, Dongfeng 17, DF-17, is a medium-range missile or MRBM system equipped with an HGV. It is capable of carrying conventional or nuclear weapons and has a reported speed of mach 5 to 10 with a range of 1800 to 2500 kilometers and a launch weight of 15 000 kilograms.

The DF-17 is a nightmare for all adversaries. However, this missile status remains unclear although its appearance in china's october 2019 military parade has raised speculation that it may have entered PLA service.

The second is the DFC-F HGV that can travel at speeds between mach 5 to 10. It is apparently capable of performing extreme maneuvers to evade enemy defenses. The DF-17 has been designed to work specifically with the DFC-F, exponentially amplifying both these weapons powers. There has been a growing interest in applying hypersonic technology to drones and other military aircraft, especially jets.

However, for such vehicles landing on airstrips, especially when they have been traveling at close to five times the speed of sound is exceptionally difficult. However the South China morning post reported that researchers from the people's liberation army, PLA Air Force have made improvements to the software.

Their research paper was published in a peer-reviewed journal, tactical missile technology. These enhancements have been made based on a classified model of a hypersonic drone that China has been developing details regarding this ultraswift drone are not known yet the paper at least confirms its existence