China is Developing Hypersonic Wind Tunnel

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China has made another step in the direction of developing hypersonic flight technology. Beijing is building a hypersonic wind tunnel to test hypersonic aircraft that can travel at speeds of Mach 25 (30,627kph).

The 265-meter-long wind tunnel, being developed by the State Key Laboratory of High-Temperature Gas Dynamics, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, can simulate wind speeds of between Mach 10 and 25, Han Guilai, a researcher with the lab, said in a China Central Television (CCTV) interview, as reported by defenseworld.net.

Han said the current wind tunnel can simulate flights up to Mach 5 to 9.

A hypersonic wind tunnel can simulate and present the status of air vehicles’ thermal power and aerodynamic force as if they are flying at a hypersonic speed.

It is expected that the tunnel will be up and running by 2020 to assist in the development of China’s hypersonic weapons, South China Morning Post reported, citing Zhao Wei, a senior scientist working on the project.

More on China’s hypersonic technology.