China has made another breakthrough in the field of hypersonic weapons! The country has officially confirmed the existence of a hypersonic air-to-air missile, which is currently undergoing final heat resistance tests. This news suggests that China may have the capability to launch effective attacks against military aircraft, including the U.S. B-21 stealth bomber.
Media reports indicate that details of this mysterious weapon appeared in an academic paper published in Equipment Environment Engineering. The paper mentions that Chinese scientists have conducted extreme heat resistance tests on the missile to overcome the challenges posed by aerodynamic heating on materials and electronics during hypersonic flight. The paper revealed that the test was carried out in a special arc heating wind tunnel, simulating high-temperature airflow environments reaching tens of thousands of degrees Celsius. This facility is typically used only for the most challenging space missions.
Another significant advantage of hypersonic missiles is their incredible flight speed and range. Western analysts speculate that China’s PL-17 ultra-long-range air-to-air missile has a range of about 350 to 400 kilometers, while the new hypersonic air-to-air missile could have double or even greater range, reaching over 1,000 kilometers. The application of this technology would present a whole new challenge for modern air forces.
In addition, the report emphasizes that the speed advantage of hypersonic air-to-air missiles makes it nearly impossible for targets to evade, especially for slow-moving targets such as transport planes, bombers, refueling aircraft, and AWACS, which are almost defenseless.
In recent years, the U.S. has advocated using transport aircraft to carry palletized munitions as makeshift bombers. However, the advent of China’s hypersonic missiles clearly has the ability to intercept these modified aircraft at long distances, further undermining the effectiveness of the U.S. Air Force’s new tactics.
However, intercepting highly stealthy targets like the B-21 stealth bomber remains a technical challenge. If Chinese scientists have overcome the technical bottleneck of long-range stealth target tracking, the Pentagon may face unprecedented pressure.