No longer safe at the rear? How China's hypersonic weapons could hunt US aircraft

China has developed hypersonic glide vehicles that can launch air-to-air missiles, a new capability that could threaten high-value US aircraft such as command-and-control and surveillance planes from thousands of miles away, according to Bloomberg.The development is part of China’s wider effort to expand the use of its huge missile arsenal for different military missions. A person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that China has also added air-to-air capabilities to some hypersonic cruise missiles and anti-ship capabilities to several other missile types.Hypersonic weapons could target support aircraftUS military aircraft such as aerial tankers, airborne warning-and-control planes and flying command posts are designed to stay away from the main battlefield. But the new Chinese weapons could put even these aircraft at risk.A hypersonic glide vehicle launched by a DF-17 missile could travel about 1,500 miles (2,414 km), a distance just short of the route from China to the US territory of Guam, a major American military base.China’s DF-27 missile has an estimated range of about 5,000 miles, putting Hawaii within its reach.Hypersonic glide vehicles, or HGVs, are warheads that can move and change direction while travelling through the atmosphere. This makes them harder to track and intercept than traditional ballistic missiles.No other country is publicly known to operate a weapon that combines an HGV with air-to-air missiles.A report by the US air force’s China Aerospace Studies Institute this year said that China’s missile modernisation efforts “increasingly prioritize the ability to inflict coordinated, system–level damage across an adversary’s operational architecture.”Weapon has major challengesDespite the threat, using a ballistic missile to attack an aircraft thousands of miles away would not be simple.At maximum range, a ballistic missile could take 20 minutes or more to reach its target. This means the missile would need highly accurate and constantly updated information about the aircraft’s location.The process of collecting information from distant sensors and passing it to the missile creates a long “kill chain”, which an enemy could potentially disrupt.There is another major risk. A ballistic missile launch could be mistaken for a nuclear attack. This “discrimination problem” could make the weapon especially dangerous during a major conflict, as an opponent might misinterpret the launch and respond with nuclear weapons.China expands missile arsenalChina appears to have sharply increased missile production in recent years. Bloomberg reported in May that Chinese missile production rose at the fastest pace since Xi Jinping became president in 2013, based on its analysis of the sector’s finances.China’s long-range PL-15 air-to-air missile has already been used in combat. The missile featured during last year’s brief conflict between India and Pakistan, with Pakistan saying it used the weapons to shoot down several Indian aircraft.The Pentagon estimated that China had at least 3,150 ballistic missiles and 300 ground-launched cruise missiles as of 2024. Those figures represented increases of 147% and 50%, respectively, from 2015, when the US began publicly disclosing such estimates.US also develops longer-range missilesLong-range air-to-air missiles are considered important for any future major conflict.The US has developed the AIM-174B from RTX Corp.’s SM-6 air defence missile. Its exact range is classified, although the ground-launched SM-6 can travel 250 miles or more.On Saturday, the US Navy said it was testing the AIM-424 Malice air-to-air missile made by RTX unit Raytheon Co. The missile has a range of more than 300 miles, according to the Navy.Lockheed Martin Corp.’s AIM-260 is also in production but has not yet entered service. It is expected to have a very long range.In Europe, MBDA Missile Systems Services SAS’ Meteor is widely used. The ramjet-powered missile can strike targets more than 100 miles away.

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