Hypersonic weapons can use aerodynamics to carry out complex maneuvers. This causes all current interceptors to fail.This is the biggest threat. In addition, the gliding flight of the DF17 can extend its range by about 40%. This is just another advantage, not the key.
Sound transmission requires air. If the missile is not flying in the air, what does all this have to do with the speed of sound?
When the speed reaches about Mach 10, the temperature of the missile will exceed 1500 degrees, and most metals will melt.
Therefore, if the thermal protection technology is unqualified, the missile will be quickly damaged.
The US has not paid much attention to the development of these technologies in the past two decades, I believe they can catch up with China in a few years. India is far too poor in this regard, and there is no hope at all. A few years ago, India’s aircraft carrier exploded. They chose to buy Chinese civil products because they were unable to manufacture standard thermal protection bricks for the aircraft carrier. However, the requirements of aircraft carriers can withstand 1800 degrees, while Chinese civilian products cannot be used if they exceed 1500 degrees.This shows that India's thermal protection technology cannot even test the performance of the product.
DF17 is the entry-level version of hypersonic weapons. It only requires qualified thermal protection technology and sufficient hypersonic wind tunnel experiments. If there is no DF17 but claims to have completed the scramjet aircraft, this is just another political propaganda.