China tests its new hypersonic aircraft

BEIJING : China has announced that it has tested a hypersonic aircraft that rides its own “shock waves”, can carry nuclear warheads and penetrate missile defence systems.

The first test flight of Starry Sky-2 — Xingkong-2 in Chinese — was successfully carried out at an undisclosed location in a remote part of the country’s northwest, state media cited the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics as saying on Monday.

The public announcement indicated China has already achieved a degree of technological prowess with the aircraft.

The aircraft - also called the “waverider” - touched speeds of 7,344 km per hour, official Xinhua news agency reported.

“During the independent flight, the test craft maintained ultrafast speeds above Mach 5.5 for more than 400 seconds and reached 7,344 kmph,” the report said.

The aircraft flew at an altitude of 30 km, carried out a number of manoeuvres and tested “a host of advanced technologies such as a domestically developed heat-balance thermal protection system”.

Various parameters were proved and the aircraft was fully recovered, marking the successful launch of Xingkong-2 and the first flight of a Chinese waverider, according to the statement.

“The current generation of anti-missile defence systems is mainly designed to intercept cruise and ballistic missiles,” Song Zhongping, a military expert, told state-run Global Times.

“But the trajectory of a waverider is relatively unpredictable in the glide and it flies so fast that it poses an extreme challenge to current anti-missile defence systems,” Song said.