China has test seventh Hypersonic Glider with top Speed Reaching over 12,000 km/h. China Successfully Completes Seventh Test of Hyperson...
U.S. expressed concern over Chinese new test, western media citing ”Pentagon officials to refers to the test object as nuclear-capable hypersonic missile”. US intelligence fears that Beijing may use DF-ZF to "deliver nuclear weapons bypassing even the most complex of anti-missile defense systems".
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman first confirmed China’s hypersonic missile test in March 2015, saying that the missile test was not aimed at any country and was done for scientific research.China has begun construction project on the world’s fastest wind tunnel, a device that would allow the country to test another hypersonic aircraft capable of challenging the U.S.’s own ultra-high-speed attack power and give Beijing an edge in a crucial military technology.
The landmark wind tunnel would reportedly be able to test future-generation aircraft that attain speeds of around 7.5 miles per second and reach the U.S.’s West Coast in about 14 minutes. Conducting the trials on the ground, rather than in the air, would significantly reduce risks associated with such extreme conditions and demonstrate how far China has come since establishing another hypersonic wind tunnel about five years ago.
Last month, state-run China Central Television (CCTV) offered viewers a glimpse of the country’s current shockwave hypersonic wind tunnel, the JF-12, nicknamed Hyper Dragon, as well as a model of China’s planned hypersonic, potentially nuclear-capable glider, the DZ-ZF. China successfully tested the DZ-ZF, which could reportedly achieve up to Mach 10, for the first time in January 2014 and has tested it six more times since, most recently in April 2016, official Communist Party newspaper The People’s Daily reported.
While China’s new wind tunnel and hypersonic aircraft aren’t expected until at least 2020, the DZ-ZF’s speed would make it a difficult target for U.S. defenses, according to The Diplomat.