China Successfully Tests its First Hypersonic Aircraft | 07 Aug 2018

China has successfully tested its first waverider hypersonic flight vehicle, a weapon that can carry nuclear warheads and break through any current generation anti-missile defense system due to its high speed and unpredictable trajectory.

The Xingkong-2, or Starry Sky-2, was launched in a rocket and released in the air after about 10 minutes.
The current generation of anti-missile defense systems are mainly designed to intercept cruise and ballistic missiles, which are either slower or easier to predict, making them possible to intercept.
In addition to its military use, the hypersonic flight vehicle may also see civil use and industrial transport.

Hypersonic Aircraft

These are the aircrafts which travels at least four times faster than the speed of sound.
It flies through the atmosphere at speeds above Mach 5, a speed where dissociation of air begins to become significant and high heat loads exists.
This type of aircraft, also known as the Waverider uses the shock waves generated by its own flight as a lifting surface to glide at high speed .
A traditional engine’s fan blades cannot be used for these jets, as they would melt if used at hypersonic speeds.
The aircraft instead uses the shockwaves created by travelling at such high speeds to squeeze incoming air.