Chinese researchers build supersonic aircraft prototype from NASA design

Chinese researchers say they have built a prototype of a supersonic flight engine based on a NASA design that was abandoned more than two decades ago.

Northrop Grumman X-47, an unmanned combat aircraft designed by DARPA. (Photo: DARPA/Wikimedia commons)

The Chinese regime has made this progress months after testing a hypersonic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead that surprised US intelligence.

In a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese Journal of Propulsion Technology on December 5, a Chinese research team said that thanks to a two-decade-old American design, they had developed and tested a prototype supersonic flight engine.

The team is led by Mr. Tan Huijun, a professor at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Jiangsu province, eastern China. The article points out that NASA's design has attracted a lot of attention from Chinese researchers, because 'understanding its working mechanism can provide important guidance for aircraft development and supersonic engine'.

The American design was proposed by Mr. Duong Minh Han (Tang Ming Han), a Chinese-American, when he was the chief engineer of NASA's High-Speed ​​Research Program from 1996 to 1999. Unlike most. For supersonic aircraft designs with one engine on the belly, Mr. Duong proposed building a Two-Stage Vehicle X with two engines on either side of the plane.

Those two engines act like conventional turbojet engines when the aircraft is traveling at low speed, and can quickly switch to high speed mode to accelerate to supersonic speeds. at least 5 times faster than the speed of sound).

This NASA design should have been tested in the Boeing Manta X-47C program. However, due to high costs and some technical problems, this program was terminated by the US government in the early 2000s. Therefore, the effectiveness of Mr. Duong's design is still unknown. known. In 2011, this design of NASA was declassified.

Now, 10 years after being declassified, Chinese researchers announce that they have built and tested an aircraft prototype with two air intakes on both sides, similar to Tang's design. According to the paper, in March the team tested the prototype for just a few seconds in a wind tunnel, which is a large pipeline that can simulate flight conditions at super-high speeds from Mach 4 to Mach 8. Supersonic speed is calculated from Mach 5.

According to the article, that test showed that Tang's dual-engine layout could be effective but not perfect. Test results and computer simulations show that strong turbulence around the corners of the air intakes can affect flight stability.

'There is a limitation on the slope at which the aircraft can travel without clogging the engines,' the team said. 'There are still many challenging issues to be solved'.

Supersonic race 

In July, China tested a hypersonic weapon capable of circling the Earth and then ejecting a type of glide vehicle. In this test, a rocket carrying a hypersonic weapon was launched into orbit before it released the hypersonic weapon so that it re-entered the atmosphere and launched at supersonic speed towards the target. its. Reportedly, this rocket also launched a second rocket, a capability that has never been seen before.

Unlike an intercontinental ballistic missile, which follows a predictable parabolic path and can be tracked by long-range radars, a hypersonic weapon can fly at lower altitudes at a lower speed. much faster speed, while moving flexibly to its target. This would make it harder for US defenses to detect.

In addition, US missile defense systems target ballistic missile threats coming from the Arctic region, so the technology could be used to launch nuclear warheads over Antarctica and surprise attack on America.

If the Chinese regime's test of a new weapon is successful, it could pose a major challenge to existing US missile defense systems.

Although the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initially denied that it carried out the test, which was first reported by the Financial Times, Pentagon officials confirmed the incident.

According to the Financial Times, that hypersonic weapon missed its target by nearly 40 km. Therefore, some US military experts did not consider this test a complete success.

In October, General John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the US military had been working on a hypersonic weapon system similar to the one tested by China, but after twice Test failed, project was aborted. He said that the missile appeared to be a nuclear weapon to be used first.

He expressed dissatisfaction with the complex bureaucracy and risk-averse culture of the Pentagon, as well as their unwillingness to accept failures in the development process. These factors have prevented the US from developing more advanced technologies to counter China's growing military capabilities, he said.

According to a recent report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Chinese arms manufacturers account for the second-largest market share in terms of sales globally, behind only American companies in 2020.

Meanwhile, a July study by RAND Corp. pointed out that although the CCP military has overcome many technological obstacles to gradually occupy the supremacy of the United States in recent years, much of its progress has come from intellectual property theft. intellectual property, acquire foreign companies and conduct joint ventures.

Faced with China's increasingly rapid military advances, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said earlier this month that "the US is not a country that is afraid of competition".

"We understand very well the challenge China poses. But China is nothing to be afraid of - this is America," Austin said at the Reagan Defense Forum on December 4.

'We have the greatest inventors in the world, and we will do what it takes to create capabilities that will help us maintain a competitive edge into the future,' he added.

Two days after Mr. Austin's speech, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency announced that it had completed the installation of radar networks, as well as the completion of military construction for the Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) in Alaska. The agency said in a statement that the radar will be able to identify hypersonic missiles in future configurations.