Can China launch hypersonic glider from satellite? Rocket force study suggests possibility
Advertisement
Researchers from the
People's Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) summarised the capabilities and vulnerabilities of China's re-entry
glide missiles , revealing they can travel up to 21,000km/h (13,000 miles per hour) in high altitudes within the atmosphere.
Certain variants may even be launched from space-based platforms, making them 'capable of drastically compressing the adversary's early-warning system response time and operational scope, thereby enhancing the probability of successful penetration', researchers wrote.
The analysis, published last month in China's authoritative academic journal Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica, likely disclosed some details for the first time and corroborated earlier reports from the
US that critics dismissed as hype.
In 2021, The Financial Times cited US military intelligence claiming China tested two hypersonic weapons released from near-Earth orbit, but some military experts called the orbital bombardment tech '
science fiction '.
Chinese military vehicles carrying DF-17 roll during a parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of Communist China in Beijing in 2019. Photo: Handout
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
5 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Chinese scientists break design ‘curse' that killed US Navy's X-47B drone programme
Chinese aerospace engineers have a revolutionary software design, which they say will allow them to overcome a major barrier to stealth aircraft development The new platform allows plane designers to have as many design variables as they want without increasing computing load – a feat long deemed impossible in aviation circles. The researchers described their innovation as breaking the 'dimensionality curse' and used the US Navy's X-47B, a demonstration stealth drone, to illustrate how the system worked. Once celebrated for its carrier landings and autonomous aerial refuelling, the X-47B project was cancelled in 2015 because of unresolved trade-offs between stealth, aerodynamics and propulsion. However, the Chinese software design delivered dramatic improvements to the design with 740 variables, including measures to reduce flight drag and its radar signature, as well as improving engine thrust while maintaining airflow stability. 'Traditional global optimisation algorithms face the curse of dimensionality problem,' wrote the team led by Huang Jiangtao from the China Aerodynamics Research and Development Centre in a peer-reviewed paper published in Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica earlier this month. The shape of components such as wing leading edges and engine inlet ducts affects two crucial things: how smoothly the plane flies and how easily it can be detected by enemy radars.
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy movie review – Korean fantasy is glossy but uninspired
2/5 stars Based on a hit Korean webtoon, director Kim Byung-woo's ambitious science fiction fantasy Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy stars Ahn Hyo-seop as a reclusive loner who discovers that his favourite online novel has become a reality. Lee Min-ho and Chae Soo-bin also appear, as do K-pop starlets Nana and Blackpink's Jisoo, but they all take a back seat to the film's polished, if generic, spectacle. It is impossible to conceive that a feature film like this would exist without the success of Train to Busan and Squid Game Play Both of these international hits opened the floodgates for high-concept genre fare within South Korea's risk-averse industry, and audiences have been inundated ever since, with their influence and aesthetic visible in every frame.
South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Chinese man works at coalface with father aged 12, goes on to earn mining engineering PhD
A man in China who worked at the coalface with his father as a boy has gone on to earn a PhD in mining engineering, inspiring many people online. The 30-something man, who is known online as 'Coal Miner No 3', recently shared the acknowledgements from his PhD thesis on social media. He also recalled his childhood in a poor area and being sent to learn martial arts. At the age of 12, he joined his father down the coal mines while his mother ran the household. The man known as 'Coal Miner No 3' is pictured after a tough shift underground. Photo: Douyin Driven to escape poverty, he studied hard and worked part-time as a construction worker, a waiter, a cook and a miner during secondary school.
