Mar 13, 2018
A team of researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have tested a hypersonic plane in a wind tunnel to speeds of Mach 7, or 5,600 miles per hour, according a paper published (PDF) in the Chinese journal Physics, Mechanics and Astronomy.
The project is led by Cui Kai, who’s part of the Key Laboratory of High Temperature Gas Dynamics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, though the plane is likely a biproduct of research from other Chinese hypersonic programs, too, including those with military ties.
This reported breakthrough comes hot on the heels of other Chinese hypersonic successes, including China’s DF-17 HGV as well as various scramjet test flights and rocket-powered spaceplanes.
The test adds teeth to U.S. Admiral Harry Harris’s warning to Congress that China is looking to lead the global hypersonic arms race. Hypersonic vehicles are considered potential strategic game-changers. The speed would allow for greater global reach, but also could nullify current air defenses. For his part, Cui touted the project’s peaceful uses, remarking in his article that it could fly from Beijing to New York in two hours.
As further proof of China’s high-speed ambitions, the Key Laboratory of High Temperature Gas Dynamics has another hypersonic breakthrough in the works: a record-breaking wind tunnel that will reportedly begin operations in 2020. It’s designed to produce speeds of up to Mach 36, making it the world’s most powerful wind tunnel, overtaking the Mach 30 LENX-X facility in Buffalo, New York. For reference, a Mach 36 aircraft would fly from China to California in just 14 minutes.
China’s hypersonic programs indicate the nation’s getting serious about extending its economic and military reach. In addition to conventional instruments of global military power like aircraft carriers, it has invested in revolutionary technology like quantum communications, exascale supercomputers, and hypersonic aircraft that could reach any point on Earth in a couple hours.
