Images on Chinese social media appear to show a hypersonic test vehicle that is a likely prototype for a weapon system. The Jia Geng No. 1 rocket, allegedly built for hypersonic research, appears very similar to an American concept for a hypersonic cruise missile.

The images, which recently surfaced in Chinese language media, show the Jia Geng No. 1 rocket, a collaboration between Xiamen University Aerospace Academy and Beijing Lingkong Tianxing Technology Co., Ltd. The images show a rocket 8.7 meters (28.5 feet) long by 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) wide, with the latter number likely including the vehicle’s fins. The rocket weighs 3700 kilograms, or 8,157 pounds.



The Jia Geng No. 1 rocket from above. Tencent

The rocket features an air intake in the front and exhaust port in the rear, and has the typical appearance of a ramjet, or scramjet, vehicle. Ramjets produce thrust by gulping air at subsonic speeds and mixing oxygen with burning fuel. The hot gasses created by this process are then pushed out through the exhaust port, producing thrust. This makes for a very fast engine, easily propelling vehicles into the Mach 3+ realm.

Unfortunately there’s a natural limit to ramjet propulsion: Shockwaves produced at the air inlet increase the faster the ramjet vehicle goes, to the point where beyond Mach 5 the ramjet no longer produces net thrust. The solution: supersonic combustion ramjets, or scramjets, which intake air at supersonic speeds, resulting in much higher Mach numbers. Scramjets can theoretically reach a maximum speed of up to Mach 15 .

The Jia Geng No. 1 rocket is likely a ramjet or scramjet design meant to study the shockwave issue. The article claims the rocket has a maximum altitude of 81,000 feet. Ramjets and scramjets are both air-breathing engines, and above that height there may not be enough oxygen for the engine to work properly. The article also claims that the rocket was “successfully launched” at “a desert area in Northwestern China," which sounds like the Korla Missile Test Complex in Xinjiang. Although there are some civilian uses for hypersonic propulsion, including a hypersonic airliner proposed by Chinese researchers, the likely use of Korla implies military project backing.

Tencent

Is this rocket an operational weapon system? No, it’s clearly a research project. Furthermore it’s reportedly reusable, and the blistering heat associated with high speed hypersonic weapons means the Jia Geng No. 1 rocket probably doesn’t achieve the really, really high Mach numbers associated with ramjets and scramjets. It’s probably more accurate to say it’s a research project in support of developing an operational weapon system.

The United States, Russia, and China are all rushing to field hypersonic weapons. Hypersonic weapons travel much faster than traditional weapons: While many long range land attack missiles travels at subsonic speeds and attempt to fly below radar, hypersonic weapons would attempt to beat enemy defenses with pure speed. This not only gives the enemy much less time to react but is also too fast for modern air defenses to shoot down--for now anyway. Many, if not all modern air defense systems simply can’t intercept a missile traveling at Mach 5+.

Another reason Jia Geng No. 1 rocket is probably weapon-related? The U.S. military is working on something just like it. DARPA is developing the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept , or HAWC. Powered by a scramjet, HAWC is scheduled to fly this year .

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