China successfully fires radical hypersonic ‘very long range air to air missile’

10-foot long projectile could hit targets 300 miles away; outranges latest Nato weapon

China has become the latest country to successfully test fire a hypersonic missile, it has been claimed.

A Chinese J-16 strike fighter test-fired the giant missile earlier this month, successfully destroying the target drone at a very long range, according to Popular Science.

Its experts analysed pictured of the launch, and concluded the missile was 19 feet long, and roughly 13 inches in diameter, meaning it could hit targets up to 300 miles away.

‘This is a big deal,’ wrote Jeffrey Lin and P.W. Singer.

‘This missile would easily outrange any American (or other NATO) air-to-air missile.’

The pair analysed photos of a J16 taking off with two of the very long range air to air missile (VLRAAM)

‘Reports are that the size would put into the category of a very long range air to air missile (VLRAAM) with ranges exceeding 300 km (roughly 186 miles), likely max out between 250 and 310 miles.’

‘Additionally, the VLRAAM’s powerful rocket engine will push it to Mach 6 speeds, which will increase the no escape zone (NEZ), that is the area where a target cannot outrun the missile, against even supersonic targets like stealth fighters,’ they said.

The new missile also has a radically updated radar system, and an infrared/ electro-optical seeker (visible under the yellow-orange cover on the forward section above the nosecone), and satellite navigation system.

Once close to its target, lateral thrusters boost its manoeuvrability.

A 2015 study in a Chinese scientific journal revealed the missile’s potential flightpath.

It showed a VLRAAM, flying 15 km upward once it is released by a fighter jet, reaching a 30 km altitude.

Then, it is guided by a combination of long range radars and satellite navigation, before divebombing at hypersonic speeds onto enemy aircraft, including stealth fighters, stealth bombers and AEWC aircraft.

The test flight comes just weeks after Vladimir Putin launched a supersonic missile that could reach the UK in 13 minutes, according to Russian missile experts.

The Object 4202 rocket was fired thousands of miles from the Yasny Launch Base in Russia to the far-east peninsula of Kamchatka with Kremlin officials calling the test a ‘success’.

It is all but invisible to US anti-missile systems and moves at such high speeds it is virtually impossible to intercept.

Boasting about their new weapon, Russia’s Tactical Missiles Corporation claimed it would make the Hiroshima nuclear bombs look like ‘popguns’.

It could reach the west coast of the United States in 12 minutes.

The super weapon is being designed to sit atop Russia’s largest ever nuclear missile, dubbed ‘Satan 2’ by NATO.

The RS-28 Sarmat missile - which was unveiled last month - has a top speed of 4.3 miles (7km) per second and has been designed to outfox anti-missile shield systems.

The new Sarmat missile could deliver warheads of 40 megatons - 2,000 times as powerful as the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The Russian President is reportedly planning to replace the country’s older SS-18 Satan weapons with the new missiles amid a string of recent disagreements with the West. The weapon is also able to evade radar. It is expected to have a range of 6,213 miles (10,000 km), which would allow Moscow to attack London and other European cities as well as reaching cities on America’s west and east coasts.

Igor Sutyagin, an expert in Russian nuclear capability at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told MailOnline: ‘The SS-18 is more than 30 years old. It is past its sell-by date.

‘So even if you had the warmest relations in the world with Nato you would want to update your missiles.

‘But (President) Putin of course is happy for it to be portrayed as an aggressive move. He wants to stress his unpredictability and his importance.’