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Chinese scientists plan surface-to-air missile with 2,000km kill range

  • Researchers from sanctioned university said the weapon will be able to shoot down early-warning aircraft and bombers from unprecedented distance
  • According to peer-reviewed paper, the technology ‘is of great significance for maintaining peace and stability’

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China’s new missile design appears to be based on the Feitian-1 hypersonic vehicle, pictured ahead of its successful test launch in 2022. Photo: Northwestern Polytechnical University
Stephen Chenin Beijing
Chinese researchers say they have designed a surface-to-air missile that will vastly outstrip its rivals, with a kill range of more than 2,000km (1,240 miles), according to a peer-reviewed paper published by the Chinese language Journal of Graphics.

Ultra-long-range air defence is considered infeasible, with surface-to-air missiles typically having a flight range of tens of kilometres and the fastest few reaching several hundred kilometres.

The team, led by Su Hua, an associate researcher at Northwestern Polytechnical University, said the weapon would be able to shoot down early-warning aircraft and bombers, preventing them from intervening in possible regional conflicts.
According to the paper, the PLA would issue a warning to any target aircraft’s country of origin and only fire if it failed to turn back. The technology “is of great significance for maintaining regional and global peace and stability”.

The PLA’s brief was for a weapon with low production costs that is also convenient for daily operations, at a maximum 10 metres (33ft) long and weighing no more than 4 tonnes to make it suitable for vehicle-mounted mobile launch, the paper said.

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Su and his team exceeded expectations, designing an ultra-long-range missile at just 8 metres (26ft) and with a mass of 2.5 tonnes. A solid rocket motor will provide the enormous thrust for vertical launch, followed by a ramjet engine to propel the missile in the upper atmosphere.

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