Hypersonic Successes Prove Superiority of China’s Space Air Strategy

China’s high-speed aircraft. Illustration by Emil Lendof/The Daily Beast

I describe the superiority of China’s space-air strategy in my book Space Era Strategy: The Way China Beats The U.S. China’s recent launch of its mobile CZ-VI rocket capable of launching 20 separate satellites with one rocket and successful tests of hypersonic glide vehicles have proved my point.

In my post “China Shows Muscle by Launching 20 Satellites with One Rocket” on September 21, I regarded as China showing its muscle China’s launch on September 20 of its Changzheng VI (CZ-5) rocket that sent 20 satellites separately using liquid fuel as the rocket can be used as an ICBM with 20 MIRV warheads.

True enough, the next day China’s major military media mil.huanqiu.com published photos to show that the rocket was a mobile one carried on a vehicle that can carry it to a launch site to be erected and launched in no time. I gave my post on September 22 the title “China’s CZ-VI Rocket Puts an End to U.S. Nuclear Superiority” to prove my point that the launch of the rocket was indeed a case of showing China’s muscle before Xi’s visit.

U.S. media Daily Beast’s article on September 29, however, seems to regard as the case of showing muscle the successful maiden test flight of China’s “hypersonic” aircraft that was reported by cannews.com.cn on September 18.

Indeed that report on the test went immediately viral on the Internet, but according to Daily Beast’s article, the report was “either retracted or censored” “a few days later”. If so, it certainly is not a case of showing muscle.

On the other hand, the launch of CZ-VI was reported by Chinese government’s mouthpiece CCTV in its primetime news and in greater details by China’s major military media mil.huanqiu.com to attain the goal of showing China’s muscle.

I had not learnt the report on the test of the “hypersonic aircraft” until September 27 when I saw mil.huanqiu.com’s report on cannews.com.cn’s report. I searched cannews.com.cn website but could not find the report. I gave a summary of mil.huanqiu.com’s report in my post “The Mystery of China’s Hypersonic Flying Vehicle”.

Daily Beast’s article regards the test as a test of manned hypersonic aircraft, but in fact according to mil.huanqiu.com’s quotes of cannews.com.cn’s report, the report does not mention whether the aircraft is manned or hypersonic. The description in the report can be interpreted as a test in the field of hypersonic technology conducted by a new aircraft capable of flying at a speed and height much greater than the aircrafts China has ever tested.

Mil.huanqiu.com has no conclusion what kind of aircraft is tested in the report; therefore, I said in my summary “I can only say that it is indeed a mystic test of a mystic aircraft.”

What I am sure is that China’s space-air technology is much superior to U.S. Air-sea Battle strategy.

Daily Beast says, “In October 1967, the X-15 rocket plane—the product of collaboration between the U.S. Air Force and NASA—achieved Mach 6.7 with pilot William Knight at the controls.”

U.S. space shuttles were indeed aerospace aircrafts that can fly at hypersonic speed out of the atmosphere.

However, for more five decades, the U.S. has still failed to make any hypersonic flying vehicle and has now been caught up by China who started the research much later.

Why? China’s space program is a part of its military efforts while US military is separated from NASA. Space-air strategy integrates China’s space and air efforts while U.S. Air-sea Battle does not include NASA.

China regards space-air capabilities as its priority as acquisition of the capability to attack U.S. homeland with aerospace aircraft or hypersonic weapons is vital for its active defense strategy. The U.S., however, allocates an insignificant part of its military budget to the development of hypersonic weapons.

That was why I said that U.S. political and military leaders were strategy illiterates.

Source: mil.huanqiu.com “Does China’s hypersonic flying vehicle look like that?” (summary by Chan Kai Yee based on the report in Chinese)

Source: Daily Beast “Did China Just Hit Mach 5?”

The following is the full text of Daily Beast’s report:

Did China Just Hit Mach 5?
A news report describes a landmark event: the flight of an airplane that can go twice as fast as the Concorde. Then, just as quick, the report vanishes. What just happened?

On a night apparently in early September, at a flight test center somewhere in China, a dark-painted airplane reportedly took off on a momentous mission—to fly faster than five times the speed of sound, then return safely to Earth.

The airborne experiment, allegedly involving a manned aircraft with a human pilot aboard, marked a huge leap forward for China as it competes with the United States to develop warplanes and missiles capable of so-called “hypersonic” flight—so fast that they’re almost impossible to shoot down or dodge.

Yes, the September test was a massive technological step. But only if … it actually happened. For as suddenly and dramatically as the news of the aerial trial broke, it quickly evaporated. Now it’s not clear what, if anything, actually occurred in the sky over that Chinese airfield.

Reporter Qi Shengjun from China Aviation News is, so far, the sole source for the potentially world-changing development, one that could give Beijing an enormous military edge over Washington. In a dispatch dated September 18, Qi breathlessly described the nighttime test—the “roar of the engine,” the dark-painted aircraft as it “disappeared in the sky,” the “excitement” and “indescribable emotion” of the test team on the ground.

“A few hours after takeoff, the task is complete,” Qi wrote, adding a literary fluorish as he compared the test plane’s landing to the sheathing of a sword. “When the ‘aircraft brake’ instruction is issued, this mission comes to a successful conclusion. The original anxiety and tension is instantly released—applause, laughter sounding in the control room.”

“The flight test center achieved a breakthrough in the field of hypersonic flight.”

But Qi’s news report appeared only briefly at the state-run website of China Aviation News. A few days later, the story was gone—either retracted or censored.

The Chinese Communist Party keeps a close eye on the country’s media and routinely suppresses stories it’s not comfortable with. An army of censors working for the Public Security Bureau scours news sites and blogs and other social media sites, yanking any material considered politically sensitive. The censors pay close attention to any Web content describing Chinese military capabilities.

Now, at any other time the Party might have been happy to celebrate yet another breakthrough in China’s rapidly developing high-tech weapons industry. But mid-September marked Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first official visit to the United States.

In talks with President Barack Obama, Xi struck a conciliatory tone—vowing to crack down on cybercrime, for instance, and also proposing to team up with the U.S. government to shut down the illegal ivory trade that’s driving the slaughter of an estimated 30,000 elephants every year.

Maybe September wasn’t the best time to shove a new hypersonic aircraft test in America’s face. Maybe Qi’s report was overeager; hypersonic engineering is a notoriously difficult-to-master discipline.

Whatever the reason, Qi’s dispatch disappeared. But that shouldn’t necessarily cast doubt on the underlying premise of his reporting. For years now—decades, even—China and the United States have been making uneven progress toward the very kind of high-tech achievement Qi described.

Hypersonic aircraft are not new. In October 1967, the X-15 rocket plane—the product of collaboration between the U.S. Air Force and NASA—achieved Mach 6.7 with pilot William Knight at the controls. That speed record for a manned aircraft still stands.

More recently, the Pentagon has been tinkering with a number of unmanned hypersonic missiles and gliders that it hopes to turn into weapons someday. But it’s no easy task to design a vehicle that can travel faster than Mach 5 reliably and safely while also being affordable.

Around half of recent U.S. hypersonic tests have ended in failure. More than 40 years after the X-15’s first flight, the Pentagon is still struggling to deploy a hypersonic aircraft it can use in day-to-day operations.

Undaunted, in 2013 Lockheed Martin proposed to build a Mach-6 spy plane for the Air Force. “Speed is the next aviation advancement to counter emerging threats in the next several decades,” Brad Leland, Lockheed Martin’s hypersonics program manager, said in a company press release.

Not to be outdone, Boeing is working on a prototype drone space plane for the military’s fringe-science Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The company hopes the XS-1 will reach speeds up to Mach 10, allowing the robotic plane to boost small rockets into low orbit starting as early as 2019.

While America doggedly pursued high-speed aircraft, China raced to catch up. A few years ago, Beijing built the world’s largest wind tunnel capable of simulating conditions up to Mach 9. In 2012, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation tested a new rocket-style, solid-fuel engine for hypersonic flights. Two years later, Chinese engineers began a series of tests of a Mach-10 glider called the WU-14 that could form the basis of a new missile or drone.

The new research warranted a mention in the 2015 edition of the Pentagon’s annual report on the Chinese military. Beijing “is developing and testing several new classes and variants of offensive missiles, including hypersonic glide vehicles,” the report warned.

But if Qi’s reporting is accurate—if a manned hypersonic plane just completed a successful first flight—and if that plane someday proves suitable for routine use, then China would no longer be just trying to catch up to the United States when it comes to flying Mach 5 or faster.

Indeed, China might have zoomed right past America, potentially taking the lead in super-speedy airplanes.

The Mystery of China’s Hypersonic Flying Vehicle

Picture of China’s hypersonic aircraft drawn by a Chinese web user out of his imagination

Recently news about China’s test of a new type of high-speed flying vehicle is viral on Chinese Internet.

What attracts web users’ keen attention is the cannews.com.cn’s report cited by a Chinese website about a recent very difficult maiden flight test of a certain type of aircraft at a certain Chinese test flight base.

The test is difficult as it is the test of a “trans-generation flying vehicle” with its unique manner of the flight, far greater speed and height and the short time allowed for preparations of the test. The professional of the test flight team are in charge of the various tasks of design, planning and command for the test flight.

According to the report, a few hours after taking off, the task of flight was completed. A dark-colored aircraft was seen diving close to the runway of the airfield. It then flattened and landed smoothly. The report says, “The test flight this time realized the test center’s breakthrough in the area of hypersonic test flight. It marks the increasing maturity of the test center in the area of test flight technology of that type of aircraft.”

There has been much speculation what kind of hypersonic flying vehicle it is in the report. Some believe that it is a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), but the test of an HGV does not take hours.

Others regard the aircraft tested is something like US X-51A but people doubt whether China has the technology to have a hypersonic aircraft like X-51A flying for hours.

Still others believe that the new aircraft is not hypersonic but something flying faster than existing aircrafts.

I have searched cannews.com.cn website but failed to find the report. Perhaps it cannot be found due to the secrecy. I can only say that it is indeed a mystic test of a mystic aircraft.

Source: mil.huanqiu.com “Does China’s hypersonic flying vehicle look like that?” (summary by Chan Kai Yee based on the report in Chinese)