Chinese state media tout ‘world’s fastest’ wind tunnel to boost hypersonic weapons capability

CHINESE state media is touting a project it says will help it compete in the next big military arms race.

CHINA is reportedly nearing completion of an ambitious infrastructure project that the country’s government hopes can pave the way for the development of a future hypersonic spaceplane capable of travelling 25 times the speed of sound.

State-run Xinhua news agency ran a report earlier this week revealing the development of what it said would be “the world’s fastest hypersonic wind tunnel” that could travel at the theoretical speed of Mach 25.

Testing war planes isn’t the only potential application of the project, set to become one of the largest of its kind in the world. The wind tunnel could also be used to test and develop hypersonic missile technology, researchers say.

Wind tunnels test how air will pass over a solid object, helping designers improve aerodynamics or reduce stress points for objects as they reach high speeds.

The facility is being built at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Laboratory of High Temperature Gas Dynamics in Beijing.

“The 265-meter-long tunnel can be used to test hypersonic aircraft that can travel at speeds of up to Mach 25, 25 times the speed of sound,” Han Guilai, a researcher at the laboratory was quoted as saying.

But the government’s hopes for what can be achieved with the help of the wind tunnel are wildly optimistic.

Mach 25, or 30,626km/h, are speeds that are unlikely to be achieved by an aircraft any time soon.

To put that level of speed in perspective, it would mean being able to fly from Sydney to Beijing — nearly 10,000 kilometres — in less than 20 minutes. That journey on a commercial flight currently takes nearly 11 hours.

Currently, the fastest generation of fighter jets can travel up to speeds of around 2.5 Mach.

Nonetheless China is still determined to splurge on the wind tunnel designed to test futuristic aircraft.

The hypersonic wind tunnel soon to be opened at the Chinese Academy of Sciences is being touted by state-run media. Picture: China Central Television

The wind tunnel is reportedly 265 meters in length. Picture: China Central Television

The Xinhua report said the Chinese Academy of Sciences had already simulated a hypersonic plane flight in its current wind tunnel at speeds “ranging from Mach 5 and 9”.

“The new tunnel will aid the engineering application of hypersonic technology by duplicating the environment of extreme hypersonic flights. Once issues are discovered during these ground tests, they will be ironed out before test flights begin,” Mr Han was quoted as saying.

It is also believed the wind tunnel could be used to test new hypersonic fighters, ballistic missiles, and space vehicles re-entering the atmosphere in the future, the Asia Times reported.

Earlier in the year it was reported that scientists at the same lab at the Chinese Academy of Sciences were working on a hypersonic plane that would theoretically travel at five times the speed of sound. Dubbed the I-plane, the concept aircraft would have two sets of wings stacked on top of one another.

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Researchers at the Beijing facility have been touting the unique concept design.

News of China’s wind tunnel project comes as the world’s leading military nations embark on a race to develop the next generation of hypersonic weapons, from missiles and spy planes to rail guns, that can beat conventional defence systems.

Earlier this month Russia’s president Vladimir Putin boasted his nation had developed a new generation of “invincible” hypersonic missiles in his state of the nation address, sparking anger in the United States and other NATO countries.

While experts are deeply sceptical about how close to operational such a missile might actually be, US officials in recent weeks have sounded growing alarm about the potential threat from hypersonic weapons — defined as weapons that can travel at five times the speed of sound or more.

Such weapons can beat regular antimissile defences as they are designed to switch direction in flight and do not follow a predictable arc like conventional missiles, making them much harder to track and intercept.

— With AFP