How would the skin of such an aircraft be cooled? Titanium starts to melt at about Mach 4 at altitudes with sufficient oxygen for jets to breath. You can go faster if you go higher, but then you’d need to bring your own supply of oxygen, at which point you’ve built a rocket and not a jet aircraft.
The implication seems to be that China is working on an intercontinental, low observable, hypersonic, terminally maneuverable cruise missile. Payload delivery would take twice as long as an ICBM, but the launch would not be detected by legacy ICBM launch detection systems, enabling a surprise nuclear first strike. Payload delivery would still be much faster compared to launching a long range stealth bomber that caries low observable, subsonic cruise missiles.
How would the skin of such an aircraft be cooled? Titanium starts to melt at about Mach 4 at altitudes with sufficient oxygen for jets to breath. You can go faster if you go higher, but then you’d need to bring your own supply of oxygen, at which point you’ve built a rocket and not a jet aircraft.
The implication seems to be that China is working on an intercontinental, low observable, hypersonic, terminally maneuverable cruise missile. Payload delivery would take twice as long as an ICBM, but the launch would not be detected by legacy ICBM launch detection systems, enabling a surprise nuclear first strike. Payload delivery would still be much faster compared to launching a long range stealth bomber that caries low observable, subsonic cruise missiles.