Now this is interesting apparently China already testing HGV on ICBM. It will negate US anti missile defense mind you they are not reliable even against conventional ICBM
In February 2020, General Terrence O’Shaughnessy, then-head of U.S. Northern Command, testified that China was already “testing…an intercontinental-range hypersonic glide vehicle—similar to…[Russia’s] Avangard” (, February 13, 2020). Having both a traditional reentry vehicle capable of delivering multiple warheads on one ballistic missile and a HGV capable of carrying fewer warheads but better able to maneuver in unpredictable ways will reinforce China’s ability to overcome its adversaries’ missile defenses. The PLA Navy (PLAN) might also seek to emulate Russia’s ship-launched Tsirkon hypersonic capabilities and equip its JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear-armed HGVs to further improve strategic nuclear deterrence.
As in the space race and other high-technology fields, China has made a major effort to catch up to and perhaps overtake Russian and U.S. capabilities. PRC research into the military potential of hypersonic technologies used to lag far behind the efforts of Russia and the United States. But during the past decade, China has invested heavily in new hypersonic research, development, test, and evaluation programs and facilities, and now both Chinese and foreign analysts argue that PRC hypersonics research has surpassed the U.S. in some regards (
, June 2;
, updated July 9). China is constructing some of the world’s fastest wind tunnels (
, May 31), which can simulate hypersonic flight conditions on the ground and streamline testing (
, December 23, 2020). It is also developing a large-scale supercomputer program that could enable the better simulation, modeling, and development of hypersonic technologies and other advanced weapons development (
, April 10). The 10th Near Space Flight Research Institute under the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) previously led much of China’s HGV research and development efforts (
, April 21, 2016). Other organizations heavily involved in hypersonics research include the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Mechanics (中国科学院力学研究所,
Zhongguo kexue yuan lixue yanjiusuo) and the Academy of Military Science (AMS)-affiliated China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center (CARDC, 中国空气动力研究与发展中心,
Zhongguo kongqi dongli yanjiu yu fazhan zhongxin) (
, October 31, 2019;
, May 29, 2019).
