China has officially tested the DF-ZF for the seventh time

[Green Angel]

Wow........Congratulations to CHINA....

 

[cirr]

A powered version......

Time to bring it on

 

[Beast]

DF-ZF warhead cannot be intercepted by any air defense currently. Even US missile shield is useless.

If US wants to play nuclear war with China. China can guarantee wiping US off the world map. No way US think they can wipe off China and survive.

 

[T-72M1]

good job, China.

 

[PaklovesTurkiye]

Powerful countries only respect power....Good going China. You have a huge economy to back up these projects.

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

Hypersonic missile will eventually give bird to Chinese Hypersonic plane: once Chinese Scientists chart the hypersonic environment with these missile tests, we will pretty much have a good idea on the materials, aerodynamic concept and structural requirements to build such plane.

 

[asad71]

Congrats China.

 

[Nilgiri]

The main trade-off is the severe loss in payload delivery + final approach characteristics.

Such technology was already being tested way back in the 60s if I remember correctly (example: X-20 Dyna Soar)....and the weight penalty was what prompted the decision to go for MIRV instead (which was much more attractive by far in an ABM free environment) by both the superpowers.

The re-entry altitude + final approach speed is also within the intercept capability of current SAM systems, so there will be a lot of cat and mouse in that arena in the coming years as well especially with advent of rail gun technology + advances in sensor thresholds/performance.

There is no undefeatable super-weapon if you know the frontier thresholds and opportunity costs for every design.

DF-ZF warhead cannot be intercepted by any air defense currently. Even US missile shield is useless.

Wrong. Look at the final re-entry altitude and profile....low speed, low altitude. Thats the trade-off of the system....to defeat the exo-atmos + mid course interceptor systems (like THAAD and SM-3)....it opens up interception scenarios by low level SAM networks severalfold.

There is nothing revolutionary or unknown here....the trade-offs of this approach have been known for a long time.

Having the technology is more of a hedge (to increase delivery profile options) rather than any game changing breakthrough.

Hypersonic missile will eventually give bird to Chinese Hypersonic plane: once Chinese Scientists chart the hypersonic environment with these missile tests, we will pretty much have a good idea on the materials, aerodynamic concept and structural requirements to build such plane.

Problem is the propulsion. Scramjets and derivatives (to try for inducted + controlled hypersonic flight) pose tons of issues and problems outside of the data you can accumulate from forced hypersonic entries. Several papers about the Dyna Soar system use for further spaceplanes and hypersonic systems concern this very issue.

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

Problem is the propulsion. Scramjets and derivatives (to try for inducted + controlled hypersonic flight) pose tons of issues and problems outside of the data you can accumulate from forced hypersonic entries. Several papers about the Dyna Soar system use for further spaceplanes and hypersonic systems concern this very issue.

Hypersonic Propulsion indeed can be potentially challenge for China nerveless if other issues is been addressed then this will simplify considerable the taste of Hypersonic plane project.

 

[Nilgiri]

Hypersonic Propulsion indeed can be potentially challenge for China nerveless if other issues is been addressed then this will simplify considerable the taste of Hypersonic plane project.

It doesnt add much data to what China would already possess is what I am saying. The basic hypersonic regime data would have been available to the Chinese since the 80s and early 90s I would imagine (add a few basic transducers+sensors to ballistic re-entries). It was further advanced according to some papers I read a couple years back about boundary flow transition in the hypersonic regime and I believe this was validated in a hypersonic wind tunnel the Chinese constructed many years back. This wind tunnel would provide the bulk of the relevant data I would imagine, rather than expensive and largely irrelevant glider tests.

A conventional hypersonic aircraft would not need (neither be capable of) the maneuverability and induced stress + thermal loads of a re-entry glider. Though I guess it would help maybe with future hybrid concepts that lie between the two concepts....especially if they are of a military nature (maybe thats what China is going for, who knows for sure).

 

[Freyja]

Such technology was already being tested way back in the 60s if I remember correctly (example: X-20 Dyna Soar

This is correct!!! As far back as 1966, the United States was testing hypersonic glide vehicles. This included the X-23 PRIME:

Hardly a new tech at all, and hardly unfamiliar to the powers that be.

 

[Spectre]

This is correct!!! As far back as 1966, the United States was testing hypersonic glide vehicles. This included the X-23 PRIME:

Hardly a new tech at all, and hardly unfamiliar to the powers that be.

What an ugly missile, to think of it I don't like any missiles - can't missiles be cuter or less phallic (aerodynamically ofcrs)?

 

[Freyja]

can't missiles be cuter or less phallic (aerodynamically ofcrs)?

I dunno? I kind of like the shape of modern missiles and rockets.

Nothing phallic about that, nope nothing at all.

 

[Nilgiri]

What an ugly missile, to think of it I don't like any missiles - can't missiles be cuter or less phallic (aerodynamically ofcrs)?

Aerodynamic automatically means phallic ....you want to get as much "stuff" behind a slim cross section....as non-abruptly as possible....which equals phallus

Its chicken and the egg situation actually. Maybe its the phallus that evolved to be aerodynamic for similar advantage

 

[Spectre]

Aerodynamic automatically means phallic ....you want to get as much "stuff" behind a slim cross section....as non-abruptly as possible....which equals phallus

Its chicken and the egg situation actually. Maybe its the phallus that evolved to be aerodynamic for similar advantage

I dunno? I kind of like the shape of modern missiles and rockets.

Nothing phallic about that, nope nothing at all.

Cursing myself from ever mentioning it, I shall scoot now