Why wind tunnels are key in China’s race for hypersonic weapon supremacy
- The test facilities are part of the secret to the country’s success in rapid development of hypersonic missiles and new-generation aircraft, observers say
- The Pentagon has highlighted US concern over Chinese advances in the technology as a ‘fundamental change’ in the military balance of power
Development of China’s new-generation hypersonic weapons and aircraft is expected to get a boost with construction of a wind tunnel simulator to test vehicles and missiles at many times the speed of sound – with more such facilities in the pipeline.
Recent announcements and tests involving vehicles and spacecraft suggest China has accelerated its hypersonic arms race with the United States as Beijing tries to gain a generation’s edge, according to defence experts.
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China, the US and Russia have been locked in a hypersonic technology competition. The term hypersonic relates to speeds between Mach 5 and 10, or five to 10 times the speed of sound. Hypersonic weapons glide and travel in a low orbit and are more manoeuvrable than conventional intercontinental ballistic missiles, making them harder to track and destroy by the US’s global missile-defence network.
The Aerodynamics Research Institute (ARI), under the state-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC), announced last weekend that the FL-64 – a one-metre-class hypersonic aerodynamic wind tunnel – had passed major calibration tests after two years of development. This indicated that it was ready to for testing hypersonic weapons and equipment.
In a statement on its WeChat account on November 21, AVIC said the FL-64 – at twice the diameter of the institute’s first such facility, FL-63 – could simulate flight speeds from Mach 4 to 8 at an altitude of 48,000 metres (157,480 feet) under a total temperature of 900 Kelvin (626.85 degrees Celsius or 1160 Fahrenheit).