A video recorded in China appears to show a People’s Liberation Army Air Force bomber equipped with a hypersonic weapon system. The H-6Nbomber, filmed coming in for a landing at a base in central China, is carrying a large missile with the telltale nose shape of a weapon that can travel faster than Mach 5. The weapon may even be nuclear-armed, making the blazing-fast projectile particularly deadly.
A civilian recorded the bomber as it was landing at Neixiang Ma’ao air base in central China. The bomber is seen carrying a long, missile-shaped object on its centerline. The missile itself appears to have a sharp, wedge-like nose similar to those seen on a new Chinese hypersonic weapon system.
According to Defense News, the weapon bears a strong resemblance to the ground-based DF-17 hypersonic weapon system. Observers first spotted the DF-17 in October 2019 at a parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
The DF-17 combines a DF-16 medium range ballistic missile with the DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle. Launched from a truck-like vehicle, the DF-17 quickly accelerates to a top speed of Mach 5 to 10, or between 3,836 to 7,672 miles per hour. The DF-ZF glide vehicle separates from the spent missile and glides on to the target.
Missile Threat estimates the DF-17’s range at between 1,118 and 1,553 miles, while The Diplomat says the weapon is highly accurate, striking within “meters” of its intended target in tests. At the October 2019 parade, witnesses described the DF-17 as being armed with a conventional warhead. In addition to the warhead, a weapon—or any object, for that matter, traveling at Mach 5+—also packs a considerable kinetic punch.
China originally designed the DF-17 as a ground-to-ground weapon capable of evading modern ballistic missile defenses by flying underneath their high-altitude detection radars while giving regular air defense systems less time to respond. The DF-17 would be the ideal platform for destroying Taiwan’s Patriot PAC-3 anti-ballistic missile systems, opening the door for conventional ballistic missile strikes launched from the mainland.
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