Cutting edge hypersonic aircraft test a success - Chinadaily

[LKJ86]

Cutting edge hypersonic aircraft test a success
By Zhao Lei | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2018-08-05 20:33

Starry Sky 2, China's first hypersonic experimental waverider vehicle, was lifted atop a rocket on Friday morning at a testing field in northwestern China.
Provided to China Daily

China has successfully developed and tested a cutting-edge waverider hypersonic aircraft, according to the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics in Beijing.

The academy, part of the State-owned space contractor China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, announced on Friday that the first flight test of its Starry Sky 2, which it calls the nation's first hypersonic experimental waverider vehicle, was conducted that day in the early morning at an unidentified testing field in northwestern China, adding the test was a "huge success".

Waverider is a hypersonic aircraft that has a wedge-shaped fuselage designed to improve its supersonic lift-to-drag ratio by using shock waves generated by its own flight as a lifting surface.

The hypersonic vehicle was lifted atop a solid-propellant carrier rocket and was then separated from the rocket before flying on its own propulsion system. During its independent flight, it maintained an ultrafast speed of Mach 5.5 to 6, or 6,732 km to 7,344 km per hour, for more than 400 seconds, according to a statement from the academy.

By comparison, the cruising speed of the fastest commercial airliner in active service -- the United States' Boeing 747-400ER -- is about 933 km/h.

In the test, the waverider reached an altitude of 30 km and carried out large-angle maneuvers. The vehicle obtained much data and verified a host of advanced technologies, such as the domestically developed heat-balance thermal protection system, the statement said.

The academy explained that the project is a research endeavor sponsored by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp and intends to demonstrate new aerodynamic technologies, noting the design of Starry Sky 2 took three years.

The test marked the first time China has officially confirmed its research and development in waverider, a futuristic concept that can be turned into a hypersonic strike weapon capable of evading all existing air-defense networks.

The US and Russia have been researching and testing waveriders for years, aiming to make use of such vehicles' great potential in military applications.

Though China had not revealed its efforts in hypersonic vehicles before Friday's test, Western media reported that the country has designed at least one type of such craft, which Western analysts call WU-14 or DF-ZF, and has performed several flight tests for it.

Source:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201808/05/WS5b66eea3a3100d951b8c8a7d.html

 

[war&peace]

It looks more like a ballistic missile.

 

[bobsm]

China Test-Launch Sky Star-2 Hypersonic Waverider Vehicle
Aug 4, 2018
By
Andreas Berg

China is one of a handful of states engaged in a race to deploy a hypersonic strike platform capable of evading modern missile defense systems.

A video of Sky Star-2’s testing, conducted Friday by the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics in China’s northwest, has emerged online, with the hypersonic vehicle said to own successfully separated from its launch vehicle and engaged in high-altitude maneuvering during its ten-minute flight.


dafeng cao@dafengcao
CAAA successfully test flew waverider hypersonic flight vehicle 星空/Sky star-2 in the northwest test range on Friday morning, the rocket completed active phase turning, stage/fairing separation, flight vehicle autonomous flight and high maneuvering turning in 10 minutes' flight.

2:26 AM - Aug 4, 2018

Online military magazine Defense Blog has published more detailed photos of the hypersonic systems’ launch vehicle.

Waveriders are a hypersonic aircraft design using the shock waves generated by their own flight as a lifting surface to improve their lift-to-drag ratio. Carrying a conventional or nuclear payload or simply using the immense kinetic energy unleashed by their flight to ruin their targets, the maneuverable high-speed systems can evade any existing or prospective countermeasures. Russia is expected to deploy its Avangard hypersonic boost-glide vehicle aboard the Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile by late 2018 or early 2019. The US has its own projects in this direction, most notably its Boeing X-51 unmanned scramjet aircraft. In May, the US Air Force announced that it was accelerating the development of its hypersonic weapons projects to catch up with Russia and China.

Earlier this week, strategic weapons experts spotted what they believed to be testing of the CH-AS-X-13, a unique Chinese two-stage solid-fuel ballistic missile with a 3,000 km range.


https://special-ops.org/44100/china-test-launch-sky-star-2-hypersonic-waverider-vehicle/

 

[cirr]

It looks more like a ballistic missile.

The hypersonic vehicle was lifted atop a solid-propellant carrier rocket and was then separated from the rocket before flying on its own propulsion system. During its independent flight, it maintained an ultrafast speed of Mach 5.5 to 6, or 6,732 km to 7,344 km per hour, for more than 400 seconds.

 

[cirr]

China tests hypersonic aircraft that can 'break any missile defense system'

2018-08-06 10:02:33 Global Times Editor : Li Yan

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, Chinese experts said on Sunday.

Designed by the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics under China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the Xingkong-2, or Starry Sky-2, was launched in a target range located in Northwest China on Friday, the academy said in a statement released on its WeChat account on Friday.

Launched in a rocket, the waverider was released in the air after about 10 minutes.

It flew independently, made large-angle turning maneuvers, and landed in the targeted area as planned.

The flight vehicle reached 30 kilometers in altitude at Mach 5.5-6, the academy said.

Waverider is a flight vehicle that flies in the atmosphere and uses shockwaves generated by its own hypersonic flight with the air to glide at high speed, Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Various parameters were proved and the flight vehicle was fully recovered, which marks the successful launch of Xingkong-2 and the first flight of a Chinese waverider, according to the statement.

"Announcing the successful test to the public indicates that China must have already made a technological breakthrough with the weapon," Song said.

The waverider is expected to be tested more frequently in future before being handed over for deployment to the People's Liberation Army, he said.

The current generation of anti-missile defense systems is mainly designed to intercept cruise and ballistic missiles, which are either slower or easier to predict, making them possible to intercept.

But the trajectory of a waverider is relatively unpredictable in the glide and it flies so fast that it poses an extreme challenge to current anti-missile defense systems, Song noted.

Any rocket has the potential of launching a waverider, and the waverider can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads, Song said.

Given different targets, the waverider can use different setups to be either a tactical or a strategic weapon, he noted.

"The test showed that China is advancing shoulder to shoulder with the U.S. and Russia," Song said.

In addition to its military use, the hypersonic flight vehicle may also see civil use in the future, a military expert, who asked not to be named, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"If the hypersonic technology matures, it may see other applications including industrial transport," the expert said.

The research is a strategic investment by China, from which many possibilities may derive, according to the expert.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/sci-tech/2018-08-06/detail-ifywsspt3619017.shtml

 

[HariPrasad]

China Test-Launch Sky Star-2 Hypersonic Waverider Vehicle
Aug 4, 2018
By
Andreas Berg

China is one of a handful of states engaged in a race to deploy a hypersonic strike platform capable of evading modern missile defense systems.

A video of Sky Star-2’s testing, conducted Friday by the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics in China’s northwest, has emerged online, with the hypersonic vehicle said to own successfully separated from its launch vehicle and engaged in high-altitude maneuvering during its ten-minute flight.


dafeng cao@dafengcao
CAAA successfully test flew waverider hypersonic flight vehicle 星空/Sky star-2 in the northwest test range on Friday morning, the rocket completed active phase turning, stage/fairing separation, flight vehicle autonomous flight and high maneuvering turning in 10 minutes' flight.

2:26 AM - Aug 4, 2018

Online military magazine Defense Blog has published more detailed photos of the hypersonic systems’ launch vehicle.

Waveriders are a hypersonic aircraft design using the shock waves generated by their own flight as a lifting surface to improve their lift-to-drag ratio. Carrying a conventional or nuclear payload or simply using the immense kinetic energy unleashed by their flight to ruin their targets, the maneuverable high-speed systems can evade any existing or prospective countermeasures. Russia is expected to deploy its Avangard hypersonic boost-glide vehicle aboard the Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile by late 2018 or early 2019. The US has its own projects in this direction, most notably its Boeing X-51 unmanned scramjet aircraft. In May, the US Air Force announced that it was accelerating the development of its hypersonic weapons projects to catch up with Russia and China.

Earlier this week, strategic weapons experts spotted what they believed to be testing of the CH-AS-X-13, a unique Chinese two-stage solid-fuel ballistic missile with a 3,000 km range.


https://special-ops.org/44100/china-test-launch-sky-star-2-hypersonic-waverider-vehicle/

Was scramjet technology used in flight?