Smart turbine engine for China's Mach-4 ‘Blackbird' completes ground test: study
Published: 6:00am, 1 Feb 2025 China's aerospace industry has made significant strides in the development of a superfast turbojet that can add heat in the global race for new-generation military aircraft. Scientists at Taihang National Laboratory, a leading aerospace engine research institute in southwest China, have completed ground tests of an unnamed turbine engine with advanced artificial intelligence technology that enables it to operate efficiently and stably at speeds of up to Mach 4.
The engine meets the military's requirement for '100 per cent supply chain localisation', according to the project team led by researcher Ji Chunsheng in a peer-reviewed paper published on January 16 in the Chinese journal Propulsion Technology. The laboratory, known for its innovative work on the Taihang series engines that power advanced fighter jets like the J-20 , is at the forefront of China's aerospace technology advancements.
This is the first official confirmation of the existence of China's high-Mach military jet project. The project aims to build a plane faster and more advanced than the legendary American SR-71 Blackbird. The Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft could reach speeds of Mach 3.2 but was retired in 1999 due to its high operating expenses.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
HKFP
9 hours ago
- HKFP
Social media, e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu – or RedNote in English – sets up office in Hong Kong
Chinese social network and e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu, known in English as RedNote, has set up an office in Hong Kong – its first outside mainland China. Finance chief Paul Chan officiated at an opening ceremony on Saturday, saying the new office would 'enhance the visibility of Hong Kong's tourism, retail, dining and creative industries,' according to a government press release. Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) said the move would help ensure enhanced services for cross-border users and brands. 'As a leading lifestyle community from China, Xiaohongshu's presence will foster creative collaboration among local content creators, brands and organisations, and promote East-meets-West cultural exchanges and content marketing development among Hong Kong, the Mainland and the global markets,' InvestHK's Director-General of Investment Promotion Alpha Lau said. Founded in 2013, Xiaohongshu – which literally means 'little red book' – allows its young user base to share fashion, beauty, travel, food, and other tips as a hub for consumption decision-making. It is particularly popular among affluent Gen Z users in urban China, according to Bloomberg. It was thrust into the international spotlight in January, gaining an influx of American users amid fears that the US would shut down the popular TikTok video app, owned by Chinese tech firm ByteDance. However, it is also known for heavily censoring or limiting topics sensitive to Beijing. Taiwan's government banned public servants from using the app on official devices in 2022 over national security concerns.
Asia Times
3 days ago
- Asia Times
US Trojan horse alarms pushing China's robots to Europe
Chinese robot makers are expanding their presence in Europe amid the growing risk of having their products banned by Washington if the US-China technology war escalates. Distributors of Unitree Robotics and several others backed by Chinese technology giants such as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (a tech trio known as BAT), said at a recent event in London that Chinese firms are actively seeking European customers and partners. Aska Liu, founder and chief executive at EnduX, a United Kingdom-based distributor for Chinese robot makers, told Asia Times that many Chinese robotic firms are still collaborating with their US counterparts despite rising Sino-China political tensions. Aska Liu, founder and chief executive at EnduX, says Europe and China should collaborate in robotic technologies. Photo: Asia Times/Jeff Pao For example, she said that Physical Intelligence (Pi), a California-based AI firm founded in 2024, used AgiBot's hardware to develop their robotic brains. She said Chinese and US firms, which are good at hardware and brains, respectively, should collaborate and utilize each other's strengths. However, she noted that some Chinese players are now seeking to diversify their markets. 'We have seen a shift in focus of some Chinese players to Europe,' she said. 'They are saying: The US has so much instability and uncertainty. We don't want to put all eggs in one basket.' She suggested Europe could benefit from the changing political situation between the US and China, as Chinese robot makers want to build stronger relationships with the bloc. Liu said Europe is the best place in the world for Chinese firms to deploy robotic technologies because: Europe has labor shortage challenges; Europe has intense industrial and agricultural scenes for the deployment of robots; Europe is a global leader in regulations and a good gatekeeper for ethics, safety and standards; China has a complete electronic supply chain for companies to finish proof-of-concept (POC) and mass-produce their robots. She said Chinese robot makers should target markets related to research and education, inspection and patrolling, hospitality and services, material handling and so-called 'teleoperation', which allows workers in low-wage countries to control robots remotely and work in shops and factories in high-cost countries. At the same time, Chinese robots are under assault in America. On May 9, the US Congress' Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) said its members signed a bipartisan letter warning of a growing national security threat posed by Unitree's 'dual-use' robots. The committee called for an investigation into Unitree's connection to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and whether the company's products contain built-in backdoors that transmit data back to China. It said China might use the robots' remote-access features to spy, gather intelligence or cause Trojan horse-like disruption inside the US. 'The fact that PLA-connected robots are operating in US prisons and even within Army operations should be a wake-up call,' said committee chairman John Moolenaar. 'These machines are not just tools—they are potential surveillance devices backed by the CCP.' In November 2022, the Federal Communications Commission banned the import of communications equipment made by China's Huawei Technologies and ZTE because they were 'deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to national security.' In early 2024, the Biden administration warned of potential national security risks associated with Chinese electric vehicle imports. Autodiscovery, a UK-based distributor for China's Unitree and AgileX, said on its website that it can disable all networking features if a customer wishes to use the robot in a secure environment. According to official footage, Unitree G1 and US robot maker Boston Dynamics' Atlas can move swiftly, but the latter can perform more complex tasks, such as precisely moving objects. Aron Kisdi, managing director at Autodiscovery, says Chinese robot makers aim to enhance their robots' ability to move objects. Photo: Asia Times/Jeff Pao 'In the recent demonstrations from Boston Dynamics, we have seen much more capability from the robot. It can pick up heavy objects and move them around in a facility. That is certainly a skill many of our clients are looking for,' said Aron Kisdi, managing director at Autodiscovery. 'The ability to do simple tasks like moving strange-shaped or heavy objects from one location to another in the factory is useful for our clients,' he said. 'Unitree platforms don't have the software capability out of the box, and we need to implement this specifically for the client whenever we find a new deployment. Boston Dynamics is ahead of this.' Kisdi said his company not only sells Chinese robots but also helps Chinese manufacturers understand the needs of European customers, enabling them to improve their research and development (R&D). 'We are increasingly talking to end users who don't have a robotics lab but want a functional robot in their facility doing useful things,' he said. 'By the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027, we will have Unitree-based platforms with improved software that can go straight to clients.' Atlas is not yet available for sale. Its production cost is estimated to be between US$500,000 and $1 million. Unitree's G1 robot, which made global headlines in the world's first robotic kickboxing match in Hangzhou last month, is priced at only $16,000. 'I wouldn't categorize Chinese and US robots as low-end or high-end, but they are in different parts of the value chain,' Liu said. 'China is leading the hardware, manufacturing and design. We see all sorts of robots manufactured and designed in China, which are second to none. You won't be able to find this level of variety, quality, value for money or cost anywhere.' 'In a humanoid robot, 40 to 60% of its parts can be sourced from the supply chain of electric vehicles. China is very well developed in electric vehicles, and it's having an advantage,' she added. Founded by Liu in March 2023, EnduX sells robots for LimX Dynamics (backed by Alibaba Group and NIO Capital), AgiBot (backed by Tencent, BYD and Baidu), Deep Robotics and Kepler Exploration Robotics. LimX's TRON1 Photo: Asia Times/Jeff Pao Although Chinese robot makers enjoy a cost advantage in global markets, they face rising domestic competition. At the Humanoids Summit, held in London on May 29-30, Unitree displayed an H1 robot without turning it on, while Kingston University used a Unitree G1 robot to demonstrate some simple movements. EnduX demonstrated LimX's TRON1, a biped robot that can maintain balance on rough terrains. Booster Robotics, a Beijing-based company established in 2023, stole the show with its T1 robot playing football and performing with a human dancer. The T1 humanoid robot stands 1.2 meters and weighs 30 kilograms, compared with Unitree G1's 1.3 meters and 35 kilograms. A Booster T1 robot performs with a human dancer. Photo: Asia Times/Jeff Pao 'Unitree is a great company and has made great products and market noise,' Chaoyi Li, head of globalization at Booster Robotics, told Asia Times during a question-and-answer session. 'As a startup, we have to differentiate our products. We want to make something robust to ensure our products don't break that much.' Li said Booster also invested in software development, with many of its team members having worked in companies like Microsoft. He said his company would build better hands for its robots to do sophisticated tasks. Read: China stages first-ever humanoid robot kickboxing match
RTHK
4 days ago
- RTHK
HK stocks end with strong gains on tech hopes
HK stocks end with strong gains on tech hopes The Hang Seng Index ended 252.94 points, or 1.07 percent, up at 23,906.97. File photo: RTHK Hong Kong and mainland Chinese stocks ended the day with gains on Thursday, led by tech and artificial intelligence shares, as analysts said Hong Kong-listed tech firms remain under-represented in global AI investment portfolios. In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index put on 252.94 points, or 1.07 percent, to end trading for the day at 23,906.97. Huatai analysts pegged Hong Kong's equity market as a strategic asset for global investors seeking to diversify their portfolio and a potential hedge against US dollar volatility. Technology is a central investment theme, they said, adding Hong Kong remains under-allocated. "As future gains in global productivity are expected to hinge on advances in artificial intelligence, the companies best positioned to lead this race are largely concentrated in the US and Hong Kong." Tech stocks traded in Hong Kong gained 1.9 percent, tracking the overnight rise in Chinese ADRs listed in New York, while the onshore shares climbed 2.3 percent. Chinese stocks closed higher, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.23 percent to 3,384.10. The Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.58 percent higher at 10,203.50. Combined turnover at these two indices stood at 1.29 trillion yuan, higher than 1.15 trillion yuan on the previous trading day. Shares related to media, entertainment and electronic information led the gains, while those in the food and bio-medicine sectors were among the biggest losers. The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, gained 1.17 percent to close at 2,048.60. China's CSI Internet Finance Index jumped 2.3 percent as investors shifted focus to fintech opportunities after Hong Kong passed a stablecoin bill last month. China's services activity expanded at a slightly faster pace in May, with new orders growing more quickly than in April, though new export orders declined due to uncertainty stemming from US tariffs, a private-sector survey showed. The CSI Rare Earth Index rose 0.8 percent, after a group representing auto suppliers in the United States called for immediate action to address China's restricted exports of rare earths, minerals and magnets, warning the issue could quickly disrupt auto parts production. (Reuters/Xinhua)
