China’s New Hypersonic Weapon Capable of Defeating US Air Defense System

November 30, 2015

Sputnik

China successfully conducted a sixth flight test of its DF-ZF (previously known as WU-14) hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) designed to defeat US missile defenses.

“The DF-ZF is an ultra-high-speed missile allegedly capable of penetrating US air defense systems based on interceptor missiles,” Bill Gertz of The Washington Free Beacon wrote.

The DF-ZF HGV was launched at the Wuzhai missile test center in central China’s Shanxi Province. It was transported by a ballistic missile near the edge of the atmosphere, where it separated from its launcher and then glided to an impact range a few thousand kilometers away in western China, according to The Washington Free Beacon.

“The DF-ZF flight was tracked by US intelligence agencies and flew at speeds beyond Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound,” Gertz noted.

The DF-ZF HGV warhead is carried to the boundary between space and Earth’s atmosphere, roughly 100 km above the ground, by a ballistic missile booster.

“Once it reaches that height, it begins to glide in a relatively flat trajectory by executing a pull-up maneuver and accelerates to speeds of up to Mach 10.”

The DF-ZF can allegedly reach speeds of between Mach 5 and Mach 10, or 6,173 kilometers (3,836 miles) per hour and 12,359 (7,680) miles per hour. Whether it will be armed with nuclear or conventional warheads remains unclear.

Read the Original Article

Contact

Curtis Stiles - Chief of Staff