Beijing confirmed on Monday that it has successfully tested China's first hypersonic aircraft, Starry Sky-2. The plane is capable of carrying nuclear warheads as well as penetrating even the latest anti-missile defense systems.
According to a report from CNN, the hypersonic flight test was carried out by the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA) in partnership with the state-run China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC) at an undisclosed facility in Northwest China on Friday, last week.
The Starry Sky-2, with its local name Xingkong-2, was launched through a multi-stage experimental rocket design known as wave rider. This gives the aircraft the ability to ride on the shockwaves that it generates.
As confirmed by CAAA, the hypersonic plane reached its top speed of Mach 6 - which roughly converts to 7,344 kilometers per hour, six times that of the speed of sound.
In a statement released by the agency, the test turns out to be a "complete success," with the flight vehicle fully recovered afterward at its designated target zone.
"The test ... has laid a solid technological foundation for engineering applications of the waverider design," the CAAA press release said.
Chinese military expert, Song Zhongping, said that the successful test flight of Xingkong-2 marks the new era of a technological breakthrough with China spearheading the race.
The Xingkong-2 flight project is still in its experimental stage, but once fully developed, the waverider technology could have essential military applications. One of its immediate strategic uses is the plane's capability to carry nuclear warheads, and with its break-necking hypersonic speed, CAAA claimed that it can bypass any current generation of anti-missile defense systems.
Most of the surface-to-air missiles (SAM) used in anti-missile defense systems today have a limited capacity such that it can only intercept incoming conventional missile weapons.
As cited over at South China Morning Post, there are still at least a couple of years to wait before this hypersonic flight technology can be fully "weaponized." According to military expert Zhou Chenming, China will most likely to use it for carrying non-nuclear warheads, at least on its current stage of development.
Accordingly, the United States and Russia have also reportedly been carrying out similar experiments on hypersonic speed and its implications on weapon use.
The Pentagon's defense undersecretary, Mike Griffin, said that while the US is also now on its path in developing its own arsenal of hypersonic weapons, China already has "a pretty mature system."
Russia's Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, claimed in June that its home-grown Kinzhal hypersonic missile system had been tested to reach speeds up to Mach 20.
