A post dedicated to the development of Chinese hypersonic technologies.
When we speak of hypersonic vehicles, according to the Chinese definition of this gear is flying at a speed> Mach 5 in the endo or exo-atmospheric field.
There are 2 types of gear to make such a flight profile - the so-called "Boost-Glide" (The hypersonic glider) and the so-called "burning" fishing gears. The Chinese test January 9, 2014, called by the Americans "WU-14" is part of the first, while the missile ramjet / scramjet as YJ-1, HY-3, YJ-12, YJ-91 or HQ -8 are part of the second.
For machines "combustion", as mentioned above, there are still two subtypes are the ramjet and scramjet the stands. The air flow is subsonic speed in the combustion chamber of a ramjet, he is in a supersonic scramjet. The theoretical speed that can reach a ramjet craft of Mach 6 (effectively around Mach 3) and up to Mach 24 for a scramjet.
For this first post I will briefly talk about the development of ramjet and scramjet of China, based on official Chinese sources and official publications.
Ramjet development in China started very early. On December 3, 1957, the 5th department of the Ministry of Defence authorized the opening of the laboratory ramjet called "Laboratory No. 5," which is the ancestor of the Institute 31 of the 3rd academy CASIC group.
In February 1957, the Russian specialist ramjet Kosov arrives in China, the Chinese have built to help its first experimental piece "number 341".
1960, the first Chinese ramjet lit successfully, the first CS-03 engine was designed and used in the drone target "213".
In November 2961, the first test bed for ramjet ground came into service. Between 1964 and 1968, several test free flowing and CS-01 large high altitude test bench means high altitude test testbeds as CS-02 bench seat CS-03 entered service in the one after the other.
In 1962, the Ministry of Defence request to develop a supersonic coastal defense missile at low altitude, called HY-3. The CF-06 ramjet engine was chosen as the main engine, the first Chinese ramjet used in a military model. In August 1969, the CMC decided to launch another parallel development which consists of a supersonic missile Air-Sea that will be worn by seaplanes SH-5, the missile was named YJ-1, the ramjet is selected CF-07.
On July 12, 1978 and July 26, 1979, in ignitions successful flight YJ-1 (CF-07) and HY-3 (CF-06), but the telemetry data showed a negative thrust on these 2 missiles, c ' ie missiles slow down instead of speeding ...
The Chinese have decided therefore to increase the diameter of the engine and start the development of CF-08 (for YJ-1) and CF-03D (for HY-3). As a matter of concentration of effort, the program HY-3 is spent in pre-study and only YJ-1 continuous development.
On June 24, 1983, the first test of CF-08 and it is a success, the missile YJ-1 gets a positive boost. On September 4, 1984, CF-08 carries a full range of flight at low altitude at a speed of Mach 2 and an altitude of 300m. In July 1986, the CF-03D engine and the new HY-3 were also successfully tested.
Beginning 90 ', the 3rd academy CASIC group of the technologies of Kh-31 on which the missile Air-Sol anti-radiation YJ-91 was developed. The missile carries a flight speed of Mach 3 and entered into service.
Other Chinese also use the ramjet missiles, like the new Sea-Air missile YJ-12 with a liquid propellant ramjet in full, or the Sol-Air missile anti-radiation at very long range (> 400km) HQ-8 uses a ramjet to mix propellant (solid + liquid).
A ramjet emphasize the notion of "integral". A ramjet can not turn on at a certain flight speed (often< Mach 2), old ramjet missiles use solid propellant boosters separable set up to accelerate the ramjet ignition, or it increases considerable size (especially "packageable" diameter that is the diameter "tube") and the weight of the whole. YJ-1 and HY-3 Chinese or Taiwanese HF-3 are part of the "old" ramjet missiles.
"Integral" ramjet has no boosteur distinguishes everything is integrated into the combustor ramjet. The new YJ-12 missiles and HQ-8 are part of this category.
With years of development and user experience, China is becoming one of the few countries in the world to have a set way of development, testing and production technologies and hypersonic ramjet, and the same time has prepared a necessary basis for the development of scramjet attack.
Scramjet side, China's development started quite late compared to the United States and Russia. In the "Space Transportation System-Sol" 863 program defined between 1987 and 1992, the Chinese have defined development strategy to start with a spacecraft (Shenzhou) and then with an "aerospace plane". The study of scramjet started well.
Beginning 90 'with the 921 program (manned flight) and the 863 program, several Chinese research institutes have started pre-scramjet studies, including ignition of the propellant supersonic, stable combustion, design input air, hypersonic aerodynamics, materials, integrated design of airframe and engine ... etc. A series of ground equipment for hypersonic study was also built as a hypersonic wind tunnel Φ1m to Mach 10 in the center of the search for propulsion and aerodynamics, the blower electric arc Φ1m to power 50MW CCAC group blower hypersonic shock wave Mach JF-12 9 to a temperature of 3000K ... etc ... etc.
Very little information has been fuitée on the development of scramjet, it nevertheless has some official elements.
In 1998, Academician Xingzhou LIU, one of the founders of the Chinese hypersonic sector, wrote an expert who addressed the Chinese political leaders folder, the folder was highly regarded and several key projects have been launched. In 2004, Liu wrote, with a committee of experts, a detailed development plan to the Chinese government. This plan received unanimous support from senior leaders and hypersonic program, including the development of scramjet and Boost-Glide technology was formalized and included in the National Development Plan 2006-2020 medium-long term. The National Center for Hypersonic Research was established and assigned to the 3rd Academy of CASIC group.
According to the plan LIU, the hypersonic development follow 3 steps -
* By 2020, develop a hypersonic cruise missile multi-platform reach Mach 6 and 2000km
* Between 2020 and 2030, developing a hypersonic aircraft with a cruise speed of Mach 5 and 10 000km range capabilities, capable of reaching any point on Earth in 2 hours
* By 2050, achieve entry into orbit and reusable horizontal mode, speed between Mach 12 and 25.
According to an official report published in the Chinese aerospace propulsion conference 2007, the Institute of the 31st 3rd academy CASIC group was developing a scramjet in lifting body configuration 2D with hydrocarbon propellant.
According to official publications, the machine made its first successful flight in June 2011.
On the other hand, it seems that the Chinese aviation industry is also interested in the development of scramjet. In the new publication of the government report "Report on the development of science and technology of aviation 2012-2013", it is clearly mentioned "successful test in 2012 of a hypersonic vehicle axial symmetry, in an altitude> 20 000m and a speed> Mach 5 ".
This could mean that the aerospace sector, represented by the CASIC group in particular, and the aviation industry, represented by the AVIC group, compete in this segment.
The result should be followed.
Henry K.
