China's Zhuhai Airshow will formally opened and we are seeing all-new aircraft designs, including a number of advanced drones, and improved variants of existing types. Various new and advanced air-launched weapons and other systems, which is really more of a massive trade expo for China's defense industry than a traditional air show. It perhaps offers the biggest glimpse into what China's capabilities look like today and what its military technology for tomorrow.
What looks to be a mockup of an uncrewed hypersonic test bed called the MD-22 has been displayed at the show. It's unclear how close this design may be to coming to fruition and whether there is any expectation that it could be developed in an operational platform. The design is reportedly expected to be 10.8 meters long, have a wingspan of 4.5 meters, weigh around 1 ton empty and have a maximum takeoff weight of some 4 tons, and be able to hit speeds of up to Mach 7 on sorties that could see the drone cover distances up to 8,000 kilometers. The range figure seems unlikely, but it may just represent aspirational ideas or even similar concepts with more realistic metrics that are under development.
Whatever the case, the MD-22 does mirror similar developments in the United States, such as the Stratolaunch Talon-A, which is intended primarily to support research and development and test and evaluation activities related to other hypersonic systems, including aircraft and weapons. The Chinese military actively pursuing a number of hypersonic capabilities that the MD-22 could help in the development of, at least in part, among other potential uses.
Hypersonic aircraft can slash trip times dramatically. With the use of computer simulations and artificial intelligence, NASA has announced cooperation with Argonne National Laboratory to help it test and develop hypersonic aircraft that might ultimately travel between London and New York in about 2 hours.
The United States also has been investing heavily into hypersonic technology- including aircraft as well hypersonic weapons, both of which are in various stages of design, development, and testing. Several aerospace giants are racing against one another to present a viable hypersonic aircraft.
As the contest for speed becomes more intense between the global powers, faster supersonic and better hypersonic aircraft would dominate the future.
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