Is it even possible that such a missile can get accurate enough to hit specific targets?
Chinese Hypersonic Developments (HGVs/HCMs)
- Thread starter A.Man
- Start date
Yes, it "just" needs more time and testing. After it gets accurate, then I predict that a conventional warhead will be mounted.
The Financial Times (FT) also reported that China has tested a new space capability with a hypersonic missile, citing sources. It said the missile missed its target by about more than 30 kilometers, yet the test showed that "China had made astounding progress on hypersonic weapons." But if Chinese authorities do not voluntarily release such top defense secrets, others can only speculate based on technical monitoring methods.
It is meaningless to discuss the credibility of the FT report. But it is important to note the unstoppable trend that China is narrowing the gap with the US in some key military technologies as China is continuously developing its economic and technological strength. China doesn't need to engage in an "arms race" with the US - it is capable of weakening the US' overall advantages over China by developing military power at its own pace.
Greater survivability and penetration ability of Chinese nuclear missiles is clearly being accelerated through a variety of new missiles. Such development will ensure that neither country's nuclear forces will be used as a tool to solve regional problems. This would ensure that the damage to peace, if any, would be limited and that the region would not see a deadly collision between major powers.
US should stop eyeing too much on China’s hypersonic missiles and broaden its horizons: Global Times Editorial (17 Oct 2021):
Watch also Alexander Mercouris' analysis on this experiment.
It is meaningless to discuss the credibility of the FT report. But it is important to note the unstoppable trend that China is narrowing the gap with the US in some key military technologies as China is continuously developing its economic and technological strength. China doesn't need to engage in an "arms race" with the US - it is capable of weakening the US' overall advantages over China by developing military power at its own pace.
Greater survivability and penetration ability of Chinese nuclear missiles is clearly being accelerated through a variety of new missiles. Such development will ensure that neither country's nuclear forces will be used as a tool to solve regional problems. This would ensure that the damage to peace, if any, would be limited and that the region would not see a deadly collision between major powers.
US should stop eyeing too much on China’s hypersonic missiles and broaden its horizons: Global Times Editorial (17 Oct 2021):
Watch also Alexander Mercouris' analysis on this experiment.
Financial Times' second article this week on FOBS + Glider:
China conducted two hypersonic weapon tests this summer (21 OCT 2021)
Nuclear-capable ‘glide vehicle’ raises US fears that Beijing is developing new generation of arms
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington | Financial Times (FT)
The Chinese military conducted two hypersonic weapons tests over the summer, raising US concerns that Beijing is gaining ground in the race to develop a new generation of arms.
On July 27 the Chinese military launched a rocket that used a “fractional orbital bombardment” system to propel a nuclear-capable “hypersonic glide vehicle” around the earth for the first time, according to four people familiar with US intelligence assessments.
The Financial Times this week reported that the first test was in August, rather than at the end of July. China subsequently conducted a second hypersonic test on August 13, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Three people familiar with the first test in July said it stunned the Pentagon and US intelligence because China managed to demonstrate a brand new weapons capability, although they declined to elaborate on the details.
One person said government scientists were struggling to understand the capability, which the US does not currently possess, adding that China’s achievement appeared “to defy the laws of physics”.
Space and missile experts have been debating the Chinese test since the FT revealed the event at the weekend.
Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear weapons expert at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, said China appeared to have developed a new innovation, but stressed the need to maintain a degree of scepticism.
“We should be open to the reality that China is also capable of technological innovation,” he said.
“But I would be careful about exaggerated characterisations that may help excuse a mundane intelligence failure. If we say some innovation is impossible to imagine, then no one is really responsible for missing it,” Lewis added.
The White House on Wednesday declined to comment. US government officials, including the defence secretary Lloyd Austin, have refused to confirm or deny the existence of the test, which remains classified.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday expressed concern about hypersonic weapons. Asked as he departed Washington for Pennsylvania whether he was worried about the development of the high-speed manoeuvrable weapons, he responded, “yes”.
The Chinese foreign ministry this week denied the FT story, saying it had only launched a space plane, but that test was conducted on July 16. The Chinese embassy in Washington declined to comment on Wednesday.
Speaking to the US military newspaper Stars and Stripes in Germany this week, Admiral Charles Richard, the head of Strategic Command who oversees US nuclear forces, said he was “not surprised” by the FT report. He added he also would not be surprised if more reports emerge next month.
Richard, who has ramped up warnings about Chinese nuclear forces this year, told the newspaper that the “breathtaking expansion” meant that China could “now execute any possible nuclear employment strategy”.
Over the summer satellite images emerged that showed China was building several hundred silos to house intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Ned Price, state department spokesperson, this week said the Biden administration was very concerned about the rapid expansion of China’s nuclear forces, including its development of “novel delivery systems”.
China conducted two hypersonic weapon tests this summer (21 OCT 2021)
Nuclear-capable ‘glide vehicle’ raises US fears that Beijing is developing new generation of arms
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington | Financial Times (FT)
The Chinese military conducted two hypersonic weapons tests over the summer, raising US concerns that Beijing is gaining ground in the race to develop a new generation of arms.
On July 27 the Chinese military launched a rocket that used a “fractional orbital bombardment” system to propel a nuclear-capable “hypersonic glide vehicle” around the earth for the first time, according to four people familiar with US intelligence assessments.
The Financial Times this week reported that the first test was in August, rather than at the end of July. China subsequently conducted a second hypersonic test on August 13, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Three people familiar with the first test in July said it stunned the Pentagon and US intelligence because China managed to demonstrate a brand new weapons capability, although they declined to elaborate on the details.
One person said government scientists were struggling to understand the capability, which the US does not currently possess, adding that China’s achievement appeared “to defy the laws of physics”.
Space and missile experts have been debating the Chinese test since the FT revealed the event at the weekend.
Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear weapons expert at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, said China appeared to have developed a new innovation, but stressed the need to maintain a degree of scepticism.
“We should be open to the reality that China is also capable of technological innovation,” he said.
“But I would be careful about exaggerated characterisations that may help excuse a mundane intelligence failure. If we say some innovation is impossible to imagine, then no one is really responsible for missing it,” Lewis added.
The White House on Wednesday declined to comment. US government officials, including the defence secretary Lloyd Austin, have refused to confirm or deny the existence of the test, which remains classified.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday expressed concern about hypersonic weapons. Asked as he departed Washington for Pennsylvania whether he was worried about the development of the high-speed manoeuvrable weapons, he responded, “yes”.
The Chinese foreign ministry this week denied the FT story, saying it had only launched a space plane, but that test was conducted on July 16. The Chinese embassy in Washington declined to comment on Wednesday.
Speaking to the US military newspaper Stars and Stripes in Germany this week, Admiral Charles Richard, the head of Strategic Command who oversees US nuclear forces, said he was “not surprised” by the FT report. He added he also would not be surprised if more reports emerge next month.
Richard, who has ramped up warnings about Chinese nuclear forces this year, told the newspaper that the “breathtaking expansion” meant that China could “now execute any possible nuclear employment strategy”.
Over the summer satellite images emerged that showed China was building several hundred silos to house intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Ned Price, state department spokesperson, this week said the Biden administration was very concerned about the rapid expansion of China’s nuclear forces, including its development of “novel delivery systems”.
This "study" is only on US hypersonic weapons, thus the only conclusion one can draw is US hypersonic weapons suck. Russian and Chinese ones don't.
There might also, just maybe, be a political axe to grind.
escobar
Brigadier
Yep, hypersonic physics works differently in USA than in CN/RU
No, the physics is the same, it's just US engineering that's inferior. Show me the law of physics that states hypersonic vehicles can't have high lift to drag ratios - which of Newton's laws does that one follow from?
This entire article is basing most of it's argument on that one US test with HTV-2 failing to achieve a high L/D (it tested at 2.6, apparently it was designed with a much higher L/D in mind around 4~6)
So it is saying since US couldn't achieve high L/D on a single test (which they then abandoned the project), China and Russia also can't?