Posted on 12/28/2017 1:47:09 PM PST by Red Badger
An image of a hypersonic glider-like object broadcast by Chinese state media in October 2017. No known images of the DF-17's hypersonic glide vehicle exist in the public domain. Image Credit: CCTV screen capture via East Pendulum
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The DF-17 is the first hypersonic glide vehicle-equipped missile intended for operational deployment ever tested.
China carried out the first flight-tests of a new kind of ballistic missile with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) in November, The Diplomat has learned.
According to a U.S. government source who described recent intelligence assessments on the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) on the condition of anonymity, China recently conducted two tests of a new missile known as the DF-17.
The first test took place on November 1 and the second test took place on November 15. The November 1 test was the first Chinese ballistic missile test to take place after the conclusion of the first plenum of the Communist Party of China’s 19th Party Congress in October.
During the November 1 test flight, which took place from the Jiuquan Space Launcher Center in Inner Mongolia, the missile’s payload flew to a range of approximately 1,400 kilometers with the HGV flying at a depressed altitude of around 60 kilometers following the completion of the DF-17’s ballistic and reentry phases.
HGVs begin flight after separating from their ballistic missile boosters, which follow a standard ballistic trajectory to give the payload vehicle sufficient altitude.
Parts of the U.S. intelligence community assess that the DF-17 is a medium-range system, with a range capability between 1,800 and 2,500 kilometers. The missile is expected to be capable of delivering both nuclear and conventional payloads and may be capable of being configured to deliver a maneuverable reentry vehicle instead of an HGV.
Most of the missile’s flight time during the November 1 flight test was powered by the HGV during the glide phase, the source said. The missile successfully made impact at a site in Xinjiang Province, outside Qiemo, “within meters” of the intended target, the source added. The duration of the HGV’s flight was nearly 11 minutes during that test.
The HGV payload that China tested in November was specifically designed for the DF-17, the source told The Diplomat, while noting that parts of the U.S. intelligence community assess that the DF-17 is heavily based on the PLARF’s DF-16B short-range ballistic missile, which is already deployed.
“The missile is explicitly designed for operational HGV implementation and not as a test bed,” the source said, describing U.S. intelligence assessments of the DF-17. This was “the first HGV test in the world using a system intended to be fielded operationally,” the source added.
The DF-17, per current U.S. intelligence assessments, is expected to reach initial operating capability around 2020.
“Although hypersonic glide vehicles and missiles flying non-ballistic trajectories were first proposed as far back as World War II, technological advances are only now making these systems practicable,” Vice Admiral James Syring, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, remarked in June, during a testimony before the U.S. House Armed Services Committee.
Outside these missiles, China has conducted seven known tests of experimental hypersonic glide vehicles. These tests took place between 2014 and 2016.
Tests of the DF-17—the first missile designed for the operational deployment of an HGV with the PLARF—followed the first-ever appearance of a physical hypersonic glider test object in Chinese state media in October.
It’s unclear if the object bears any relation to the tested DF-17, but the images released in October are thought to be the first of any glider-like object in Chinese state media.
In addition to China, the United States and Russia are also developing hypersonic glider technology, but neither country is known to have flight-tested a system in a configuration intended for operational deployment to date.
Hypersonic gliders, by virtue of their low-altitude flight, present challenges to existing radar sensor technology enabling missile defenses. By flying at a low altitude instead of reentering from a much higher apogee on a ballistic trajectory, adversary radars would detect HGVs with less time for an interception to take place before the payload can reach its target.
HGVs, however, are considerably slower in the final stages of their flight than most reentry vehicles on a ballistic trajectory. This may leave them vulnerable to interception by advanced terminal point defense systems.
In a report detailing new ballistic and cruise missile threats to the U.S. released this year, the U.S. National Air and Space Intelligence Center observed that “Hypersonic glide vehicles delivered by ballistic missile boosters are an emerging threat that will pose new challenges to missile defense systems.”
Didn’t the USA launch one of these back 15 years ago as a test of hypersonic flight?
Looks almost identical.
We are so screwed.
Not necessarily. While these may be fast, they slow down in the final stages of descent and are vulnerable to more conventional methods..........
Where do you think they got it?..................
Probably the Germans during WW2.
The Chinese announce an advanced mil tech ready to be deployed so everyone knows how advanced they are - its a matter of prestige. While the US keeps quiet on the same mil tech first tested over a decade previous - do we have one or the similar? Did the Zero and his cohorts in Congress kill the budget for something like this through their sequestration budgets?
We can guess as can the Chinese, but they have already played their hand.
A hypersonic cruise missile is more desirable for strike purposes. Especially one that could be launched multiple ways and can maneuver en route.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-51_Waverider
Not to worry kids, the Chinese are several steps behind on the desirable technology.
That was the Stone Age compared to today...............
Wonder how much the Clintons got for the designs and test results?
It is about the size of an R/C airplane sold at my local hobby shop.
Sure, but I mean the concept of low-flying hypersonic (or nearly so) vehicle. It’s not exactly a new concept, per the article.
I think that pic is just a model.
The real thing would be much larger.................
True, the idea has been around for decades.
The materials and such had to catch up.................
Yet another Chinese weapon system paid for with our consumer dollars, thanks to the free traitors.
I’m not sure these are such a great idea, but if china wants to blow a lot of money on them great. Consider, they are slower than a conventional RV - which we have already proven we can intercept. They have a limited energy budget for maneuvers - lest they scrub off even more speed. They are hot, easily targeted by infrared sensors. They cannot employ decoys, even the thin atmosphere strips away lightweight decoys. Frankly, I fail to see the appeal as a delivery system.
“Did the Zero and his cohorts in Congress kill the budget for something like this through their sequestration budgets?”
More than likely in order to free up money for various mandatory LGBTXYZ, and women in combat arms programs.
“Did the Zero and his cohorts in Congress kill the budget for something like this through their sequestration budgets?”
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More than likely in order to free up money for various mandatory LGBTXYZ, and women in combat arms programs.
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There’s a difference?
Looks like a paper airplane.
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