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Stephen Chen

Chinese scientists and engineers are developing a smart, ultra-small hypersonic glide missile that can be fired from an 80mm (3.4-inch) anti-aircraft gun.
Upon leaving the barrel, the missile reaches a speed close to Mach 6, far faster than a conventional anti-aircraft shell.
This allows it to strike fighter jets or drones more than 20km (12 miles) away, even at altitudes around 10,000 metres (32,800 feet).
Because of its tremendous speed and small size, an enemy aircraft may only detect the missile when it is about 3km away, leaving just seconds to react.
By then, the missile would still be travelling at Mach 3.6.
Computer simulations show that even if a target makes a near-90-degree turn, the missile can adjust its trajectory and achieve a 99 per cent kill probability.
A typical anti‑aircraft gun can fire roughly once per second. With low cost and near‑unlimited supply, these systems could rewrite the rules of warfare if deployed widely to replace medium- and short-range air defence missiles.
“Hypersonic guided projectiles represent a new generation of precision‑strike weapons,” a research team led by Wang Xugang, a professor at Nanjing University of Science and Technology, wrote in a peer‑reviewed paper published in the Journal of Naval Aviation University last month.
“With advantages such as rapid strike, precision guidance and high lethality, they are profoundly reshaping traditional firepower combat models and have broad application prospects in future air warfare.”




Yet extreme speed also brings challenges. During serpentine or sharp‑turn manoeuvres, traditional guidance methods may fail to keep up, causing misses.
Wang’s team designed a two‑stage guidance system: first, a mid-course phase that plans an efficient flight path, followed by a terminal phase that makes fine adjustments to lock onto the target.
They used a mathematical approach called “multi‑objective optimisation” to ensure the projectile not only retains high speed and energy mid‑flight but also manoeuvres smoothly.
In the final seconds, an advanced “sliding‑mode variable‑structure guidance” law enables the missile to anticipate and closely follow even highly agile targets.
The guidance method they published reduces manoeuvre load at the terminal phase by more than 90 per cent compared with conventional approaches, while also making the flight path smoother.
Simulations suggest minimal miss distance, strong resistance to interference and high reliability, according to the researchers.


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Computer simulations show that even if a target makes a near-90-degree turn, the missile can adjust its trajectory and achieve a 99 per cent kill probability. Photo: Handout

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Missiles reach Mach 6 speed and can strike fighter jets more than 20km away, leaving enemy aircraft mere seconds to react


Missiles reach Mach 6 speed and can strike fighter jets more than 20km away, leaving enemy aircraft mere seconds to react.


China is developing mini hypersonic glide missiles that can be fired from 80mm naval gun

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Missiles reach Mach 6 speed and can strike fighter jets more than 20km away, leaving enemy aircraft mere seconds to react

Missiles reach Mach 6 speed and can strike fighter jets more than 20km away, leaving enemy aircraft mere seconds to react