China hypersonic glide vehicle missile development

[luritie]

According to classified Pentagon documents leaked online, China conducted a flight test of a developmental DF-27 IRBM-class hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) on Feb. 25. The HGV flew for ~12 minutes and traveled ~2,100km. DF-27 is designed to enhance China's ability to hold targets at risk beyond Second Island Chain and possess a high probability of penetrating US ballistic missile defense; land attack and antiship variants likely were fielded in limited numbers in 2022.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1568325670740307968

View: https://twitter.com/roderick_s_lee/status/1568325670740307968

2022 China Military Power Report

 

[sferrin]

What would be the point of a DF-27 IRBM when you already have DF-26?

 

[totoro]

Df26 warhead flies a fairly predictable trajectory. With most of it being high up where sm3 and thaad are capable of intercepting it.
Df27 changes course while gliding lower. So thaad and especially sm3 can't really intercept it. Yet high enough that fin steered SAMs can't reach it until the very last few moments before impact. It's not a bm. But a hypersonic glider.

 

[In_A_Dream]

Df26 warhead flies a fairly predictable trajectory. With most of it being high up where sm3 and thaad are capable of intercepting it.
Df27 changes course while gliding lower. So thaad and especially sm3 can't really intercept it. Yet high enough that fin steered SAMs can't reach it until the very last few moments before impact. It's not a bm. But a hypersonic glider.

Do you know what China's production rate is for the DF-27?

 

[sferrin]

I'll bet they don't quit if they run into difficulty.

 

[totoro]

Df26 warhead flies a fairly predictable trajectory. With most of it being high up where sm3 and thaad are capable of intercepting it.
Df27 changes course while gliding lower. So thaad and especially sm3 can't really intercept it. Yet high enough that fin steered SAMs can't reach it until the very last few moments before impact. It's not a bm. But a hypersonic glider.

Do you know what China's production rate is for the DF-27?

No. It is not even known if the thing is actually in active service yet. Though, judging by images of launcher out on public roads, one might say that at least some systems have been handed over to the PLA.

 

[donnage99]

I'll bet they don't quit if they run into difficulty.

USAF's boost glide effort is mainly an effort to please congress and the public while they can pursue what they truly want - hypersonic cruise missile. Hence the downfall of the program - deadlines and milestones set by NOT science, but politics. And when predictably, things fall apart they immediately bail since they never truly believed in it anyway.

 

[Forest Green]

I'll bet they don't quit if they run into difficulty.

Or have an intelligence agency that leaks that a sieve.

 

[sferrin]

I'll bet they don't quit if they run into difficulty.

USAF's boost glide effort is mainly an effort to please congress and the public while they can pursue what they truly want - hypersonic cruise missile. Hence the downfall of the program - deadlines and milestones set by NOT science, but politics. And when predictably, things fall apart they immediately bail since they never truly believed in it anyway.

I'd like to believe that. But they've done the same thing with other programs in the past. HTV-2 for example.

 

[rainyZzone]

Df26 warhead flies a fairly predictable trajectory. With most of it being high up where sm3 and thaad are capable of intercepting it.
Df27 changes course while gliding lower. So thaad and especially sm3 can't really intercept it. Yet high enough that fin steered SAMs can't reach it until the very last few moments before impact. It's not a bm. But a hypersonic glider.

The main reason is the lack of understanding of the flight trajectory of hypersonic weapons, and its flight altitude is a test of the response speed of the interception system.
However, hypersonic weapons have very limited maneuverability and speed after re-entering the atmosphere, just like MaRV.
It only needs to improve the early warning ability, and the interceptor in the atmosphere still has a good terminal interception ability.

 

[zjz]

Have any one thought that the intel "leak" may be a red herring?

Anyway, I would like to see an actual picture of the DF-27 for real ....

 

[NCQ]

Have any one thought that the intel "leak" may be a red herring?

Extremely unlikely.

For example the Washington Post apparently managed to track down the original leak and talk with the leaker's friends. They were a member of a small private racist (and I mean like yelling slurs racist) gamer Discord server who worked on a Military base. They were posting the documents for basically just clout among the server community. It's a weird story, and I'd expect an arrest soon.

And that's before we get into the documents themselves and the work that has done to confirm that they are real by the press.

 

[luritie]

China has developed a new surface material for hypersonic vehicles that can remain intact after a long flight, scientists involved in the project announced. In a test conducted by the Chinese military, the thin material was applied to the surface of a “waverider” aircraft – which uses shock waves generated by its own flight to improve lift.

The air around the hypersonic aircraft was then heated to thousands of degrees Celsius. The smooth, non-ablative surface not only kept critical components inside the aircraft cool, but allowed wireless signals to go in and out freely, making target identification and communication possible throughout the flight, according to analysis of telemetry data.

“The test flight ended in a complete success,” the team wrote in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Physics of Gases last month.

"The second stage of the hypersonic race goes beyond missiles and focuses on the development of long-range, reusable platforms that will have both military and civilian applications, the Chinese scientists said. To the military, these hypersonic aircraft can carry out reconnaissance missions, drop bombs, intercept stealth aircraft such as the F-22, or transport a small group of special ops to any location on the planet in an hour or two.
But this would require a fundamentally different approach to heat management, according to Ai’s team.

Some Chinese hypersonic platforms under development need to fly more than 3,000 seconds in the atmosphere with a surface temperature reaching as high as 3,000 degrees Celsius, they said.

China makes massive leap ahead with hypersonic technology

Scientists have developed a breakthrough surface material previously thought to be impossible.

www.scmp.com

 

[luritie]

The era of anti-ship missile (DF-27, FOBS, Conv ICBM, Long-range Reusable hypersonic platforms ????) strike beyond 2IC is coming...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1724202182419869940

View: https://twitter.com/luritie/status/1724202182419869940