Chinese Hypersonic Missile

[aerostadt]

China claims to successfully tested their first hypersonic missile.

https://us.cnn.com/2018/08/07/china/china-hypersonic-aircraft-intl/index.html

 

[kuririn]

So I see that the Russians and Chinese are developing hypersonic missiles. Only about 46 years after the US put one into operational service:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprint_(missile)

"Sprint accelerated at 100 g, reaching a speed of Mach 10 in 5 seconds."

 

[OverTheTop]

True, but it was for a short sprint only. I think the new ones have much higher ceilings and range. Impressive either way.

 

[aerostadt]

The Sprint was an all solid propellant rocket that was the second tier of the Sentinel System of a anti-ballistic missile defense intended to stop long range ICBM's. The first tier was the longer range Spartan missile. The Sprint had a very high acceleration and was intended to hit the ICBM warheads that were missed by the Spartan. Everything was tracked by a Perimeter Acquisition Radar (PAR). It looks like the Chinese used a solid propellant rocket to boost an air-breathing scramjet to a high enough altitude and speed (Mach 5 to Mach 6) for the scramjet to operate. Scramjets operate at hypersonic speeds (above Mach 5) and often have the entire scramjet incorporated into the aerodynamic body to provide both air for combustion, but also lift for the aircraft at the same time.

 

[kuririn]

Here's a related article posted by GlenP on another thread:

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/a...-claims-both-usaf-hypersonic-programm-450968/

So, Chinese are developing a hypersonic missile, Mach 6...….
Americans are developing an interceptor missile, Mach 20...….
Guess I'll be sleeping well tonight.

 

[Winston]

China claims to successfully tested their first hypersonic missile.

https://us.cnn.com/2018/08/07/china/china-hypersonic-aircraft-intl/index.html

In the photos and videos, only a plane vanilla solid propellant rocket is shown. Hypersonic vehicles with any potentially significant range use scramjets once boosted to their operating velocity. Perhaps one is hidden under that nose cone, but otherwise I don't see one. Thus, they could be presenting any old missile launch as a test of a "hypersonic vehicle."

These are supposedly images of ones in a wind tunnel, but I don't see any scramjet intakes although they may not be needed for this phase of testing:

In any case, I'm sure the tech is significantly stolen tech. Maybe they've previously made a deal with these Russian colluders:

The Clinton Foundation, State and Kremlin Connections
Why did Hillary’s State Department urge U.S. investors to fund Russian research for military uses?
31 Jul 2016

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-clinton-foundation-state-and-kremlin-connections-1469997195

Moreover, the report said: “the Skolkovo Foundation has, in fact, been involved in defense-related activities since December 2011, when it approved the first weapons-related project—the development of a hypersonic cruise missile engine. . . . Not all of the center’s efforts are civilian in nature.”

 

[markkoelsch]

Boost from a missile and glide. It is called a hypersonic glide vehicle.

 

[Winston]

Boost from a missile and glide. It is called a hypersonic glide vehicle.

It's not going to "glide" for very long at hypersonic velocities in the mid to lower atmosphere. The Russian version:

Avangard (hypersonic glide vehicle)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avangard_(hypersonic_glide_vehicle)

Avangard (also called Objekt 4202, Yu-71 and Yu-74) is a hypersonic glide vehicle developed by the Russian Federation using a Scramjet engine.

 

[Winston]

More details on this vehicle:

China’s hypersonic aircraft, Starry Sky-2, could be used to carry nuclear missiles at six times the speed of sound
First test flight of experimental design, which rides its own shock waves, deemed a ‘huge success’

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/dip...ypersonic-aircraft-starry-sky-2-could-be-used

The Starry Sky-2, which is an experimental design known as a waverider – for its ability to ride on the shock waves it generates – completed its first test flight on Friday at an undisclosed location in northwest China, the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics said in a statement issued on Monday.

The aircraft was carried into space by a multistage rocket before separating and relying on its own power. [Scramjet - W] During independent flight it conducted extreme turning manoeuvres, maintained velocities above Mach 5.5 (five-and-a-half times the speed of sound) for more than 400 seconds, and achieved a top speed of Mach 6, or 7,344km/h (4,563mph), the statement said.

Pervious news of a different hypersonic weapon:

China reveals Lingyun-1 hypersonic missile at National Science and Technology expo
21 May 2018

https://thedefensepost.com/2018/05/21/china-lingyun-1-hypersonic-missile-revealed/

 

[markkoelsch]

It's not going to "glide" for very long at hypersonic velocities in the mid to lower atmosphere. The Russian version:

Avangard (hypersonic glide vehicle)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avangard_(hypersonic_glide_vehicle)

Avangard (also called Objekt 4202, Yu-71 and Yu-74) is a hypersonic glide vehicle developed by the Russian Federation using a Scramjet engine.

Being boosted from an icbm combined with the velocities it does not need to glide for long to have range.

 

[Winston]

Being boosted from an icbm combined with the velocities it does not need to glide for long to have range.

Sure, but both mentions of the Chinese hypersonic vehicle types mention scramjets and what would basically be a "skip bomber" skipping off the upper atmosphere wouldn't remain hypersonic when approaching the target. If you mean that this could have been an unpropelled test of aerodynamics and control, I could agree with that.

 

[Winston]

Sure, but both mentions of the Chinese hypersonic vehicle types mention scramjets and what would basically be a "skip bomber" skipping off the upper atmosphere wouldn't remain hypersonic when approaching the target.

HOWEVER, come to think of it, a hypersonic glider skipping off the upper atmosphere could result in a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS) requiring a much smaller booster than an ICBM. Accuracy would be accomplished by the Chinese GPS system backed up by inertial navigation and perhaps terminal optical homing.

 

[Winston]

HOWEVER, come to think of it, a hypersonic glider skipping off the upper atmosphere could result in a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS) requiring a much smaller booster than an ICBM. Accuracy would be accomplished by the Chinese GPS system backed up by inertial navigation and perhaps terminal optical homing.

Yep, a new FOBS method:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_Orbital_Bombardment_System#SALT_II

The SALT II agreement (1979) prohibited the deployment of FOBS systems:

Each Party undertakes not to develop, test, or deploy:
(...)
(c) systems for placing into Earth orbit nuclear weapons or any other kind of weapons of mass destruction, including fractional orbital missiles;

While the provisions laid out in SALT II, or the second Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty, aimed to ban the use of FOBS missiles, it was never actually ratified by the United States Senate.[4] This unratified treaty would have called for the deconstruction of multiple FOBS vehicles that were being developed by the Soviet Union.[2] It would have also banned the future testing and construction of future FOBS missiles.[2] Even though the SALT II treaty never became official, the Soviet Union still adhered to it and cancelled their testing of the FOBS.[2] The missile was then phased out in January 1983 in compliance with this treaty.

 

[Winston]

On September 4th, 2018, MDAA hosted a Congressional Roundtable on Space-Based Missile Defense at the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Speakers included:

Mr. John Rood
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy

Dr. Michael Griffin
Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering

Lieutenant General Samuel Greaves
Director of the Missile Defense Agency

Host: Mr. Riki Ellison
Chairman and Founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance

Watch from 19:38 on the hypersonic threat:

 

[Nytrunner]

The Lingyun-1 would make a nice scale/sportscale rocket

 

[dhbarr]

The Lingyun-1 would make a nice scale/sportscale rocket

Looks fairly similar to the Boeing hyfly, somebody could make an either-or close-enough kit.

 

[Winston]

DARPA Starts Work On "Glide Breaker" Hypersonic Weapons Defense Project
The program's main goal is to find ways to make America's enemies think twice before using hypersonic weapons.
6 Sep 2018

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...de-breaker-hypersonic-weapons-defense-project

As the threat of hypersonic weapons continues to grow, one of the Pentagon’s top research and development arm is moving ahead with a new project to explore ways to guard against them. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Glide Breaker project will look into various “component technologies” needed for one or more defense systems, but will focus heavily on a hard-kill interceptor to knock the fast-flying weapons out of the sky.
DARPA showed off concept art of the interceptor portion of Glide Breaker for the first time at its D60 Symposium, which honors the organization’s 60th anniversary, in September 2018. The agency’s Tactical Technology Office had previously hosted a gathering to explain the project and its requirements to interested parties in July 2018.

“The objective of the Glide Breaker program is to further the capability of the United States to defend against supersonic and the entire class of hypersonic threats,” DARPA said in an announcement for the July 2018 “Proposers Day.” “Of particular interest are component technologies that radically reduce risk for development and integration of an operational, hard-kill system.”

So far, there are few other publicly available details about the program. In its budget request for the 2019 Fiscal Year, DARPA did not ask for any money for Glide Breaker specifically or for research and development of hypersonic defense systems broadly.

 

[kuririn]

Instead of going Mach 5, it goes Mak 5.