How China overtook the US in hypersonic arms and may leave air defences ‘powerless’

With the unveiling of the long-range hypersonic CJ-1000 missiles, China has surpassed the United States in the critical race to field practical scramjet propulsion systems, according to a mainland military magazine.

Alongside the ship-launched YJ-19, the CJ-1000 road-mobile cruise missile was one of two hypersonic missiles powered by advanced air-breathing scramjet engines on show during the Victory Day military parade in Beijing in September last year.

They are the world’s only two operational scramjet-driven hypersonic missiles besides Russia’s ship-based 3M22 “Zircon”. The CJ-1000 is therefore the first and to date only land-based variant of its kind.

According to an analysis in the February issue of Shipborne Weapons magazine, scramjet engines represent a technologically superior – yet more difficult – development path for hypersonic missiles compared with glider vehicles such as China’s DF-17 and Russia’s Avangard.

“The emergence of the CJ-1000 missile marks China’s transition from closely following to taking a leading position in the most advanced aerospace domains,” the article said.

The scramjet missiles’ cruise altitude of 20km to 30km (12.4 miles to 18.6 miles) is much lower than that of glider vehicles, which is about 60km to 80km. And for enemy air defence radar, the lower the missile flies, the more difficult it is to detect and respond.

South China Morning Post