In November, China’s People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force conducted two flight tests of a new ballistic missile that was attached to a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV).A HGV is a form of aircraft that is capable of reaching speeds five times faster than the speed of sound, allowing it to deliver nuclear weapons to their target in a matter of seconds.
According to the US official the test was “the first HGV test in the world using a system intended to be fielded operationally”.
The HGV tested on November 1 is said to have been specifically designed for a medium-range ballistic missile called DF-17 and landed “within metres” of its intended target.
A second test of the missile took place on November 15.
According to US officials the missile is expected to become fully operational by 2020.
A National Air and Space Intelligence Centre report released in June warned that HGVs could be more dangerous as they were harder to defend against due to the speed the missile travels at.
The DF-17 is a ballistic missile equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), which is said to be capable of achieving speeds of up to 7,680 miles per hour (12,360 kph) – or 10 times the speed of sound.
In the tests, the missile’s payload flew roughly 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) in about 11 minutes with the HGV, though intelligence experts suspect it could one day achieve over 1,500 miles (2,500 km).
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