Renderings of China’s Mach 6 Hypersonic Drone Designs

Wang Zhengou of the National Defense Science and Technology University scramjet design, together with combined cycle engines, could allow China to fly Mach 6 airplanes, like this fan art, which could fly anywhere in the world in under three hours, at speeds and altitudes imprevious to modern air defenses. It is highly likely that due to the nature of material sciences and laws physics, hypersonic aircraft like the American SR-72 and its Chinese counterparts would look similar to each other (like how most modern attack submarines share the same general shape).

Scramjet engines mix together air and liquid fuel at supersonic speeds, to result in the rapid combustion that propels aircraft and missiles at hypersonic speeds over Mach 5. In September 2015, Professor Wang received an award from the Chinese Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics (CSAA) for the successful development of China’s first scramjet engine over the past decade. In fact, Professor Wang took the top billing at the 2nd China Aeronautical Science and Technology Conference (CASTC2015) Feng Ru Aviaion Science and Technology Elite Awards (Feng Ru was an early 20th century Chinese aviation pioneer). CSAA took pains to mention that the kerosene-powered scramjet engine has successfully conducted flight tests, which makes China the second nation in the world, after the American X-43 and X-51 test vehicles, to develop a working scramjet engine for sustained atmospheric hypersonic flight.

SOURCES – Popular Science