China just tested a hypersonic engine powered by explosions; could this change the future of warfare?
TIL Creatives Hypersonic weapons are seen as the next big thing in military technology. They are hard to detect, harder to intercept, and capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads. Countries like the U.S., Russia, and China are racing to build the most advanced hypersonic systems. If China's claims are accurate, they could now have an edge over the U.S. The RDE could power next-generation missiles, spaceplanes, or high-speed jets. China says it has taken a big step forward in hypersonic engine technology. This could change the future of high-speed flight and military power. The announcement has caught global attention, especially among major powers like the U.S. and Russia.Chinese scientists claim they have successfully tested a 'Rotating Detonation Engine' (RDE) that can power vehicles at hypersonic speeds — more than five times the speed of sound. This new engine uses shockwaves to create controlled explosions. These explosions produce more thrust while using less fuel compared to traditional engines.The key advantage? RDEs are lighter, more efficient, and faster. If used in missiles or aircraft, they could travel farther and strike faster, before enemies can react.
Interestingly, the concept behind this engine isn't entirely new. It traces back to research by the U.S. Air Force and the University of Michigan in the late 1950s. American scientists had originally proposed the Oblique Detonation Engine (ODE) as a possible solution for hypersonic propulsion. NASA explored this idea further in the 1970s, targeting speeds up to Mach 16. However, due to the technical challenges of stabilizing detonation and managing fuel-air mixing, the U.S. abandoned development of the technology.The U.S. Navy also explored advanced concepts like the 'dream shell' in 2012, designed to travel at Mach 5 using satellite navigation. That project continued until 2017 but was eventually scrapped by 2021.
The breakthrough was made by a teamfrom China's National University of Defense Technology. According to Chinese media reports, they tested a small RDE in a wind tunnel. The engine reportedly ran steadily for 600 seconds (10 minutes), a record for this kind of engine. They also managed to maintain high thrust while keeping the engine temperature under control.The engine used ethylene and oxygen as fuel and burned the mixture in a continuous detonation wave — a process that is extremely fast and very difficult to stabilize.
Hypersonic weapons are seen as the next big thing in military technology. They are hard to detect, harder to intercept, and capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads. Countries like the U.S., Russia, and China are racing to build the most advanced hypersonic systems.
If China's claims are accurate, they could now have an edge over the U.S. The RDE could power next-generation missiles, spaceplanes, or high-speed jets. While the Chinese test sounds impressive, independent verification is still lacking. China tends to keep military developments secret. International experts haven't confirmed the findings yet. However, if China has achieved a stable and scalable version of this engine, it could mark a major shift in global military power.
China's interest in hypersonic tech is well known. This engine could pave the way from lab testing to real-world weapons. If so, it may intensify the global arms race in hypersonic warfare, and rewrite the balance of power in the skies.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Tesla shares jump 10% after first robotaxi rides hit the road in Austin, Texas
The automaker deployed a small fleet of self-driving taxis in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, marking the first time its cars have carried paying passengers without human drivers. The rides were being offered for a flat fee of $4.20 in a limited zone. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tesla shares jumped 10% on Monday, lifted by the long-awaited launch of the company's robotaxi service that CEO Elon Musk has for years championed as a key driver of the electric vehicle maker's lofty automaker deployed a small fleet of self-driving taxis in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, marking the first time its cars have carried paying passengers without human drivers. The rides were being offered for a flat fee of $4.20 in a limited trial's success is crucial for Tesla as Musk has pivoted the company to self-driving cars and robots, shelving plans for mass-market dominance in the EV space as Chinese competition heats up and demand slows for its aging line-up of models."It was a comfortable, safe, and personalized experience," said Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, who took multiple robotaxi rides on Sunday and has long been a Tesla bull."There was a moment where we drove up a narrow road going up a hill with cars parked on both sides with oncoming traffic and people opening their car doors into the road and the robotaxi masterfully maneuvered with patience and safety."Many social-media influencers also posted videos of their first rides on X, showing the cars navigating busy city streets by slowing down and making room for incoming the tightly controlled trial - with about 10 vehicles and front-seat riders acting as "safety monitors" - is just the first step in what could be a years-long process of scaling up the service, according to some industry as well as rivals including Google-backed Waymo, have faced federal investigations and recalls following experts have questioned the efficacy of Tesla's self-driving technology that depends mostly on cameras and AI, without redundant sensors such as lidar and radar, claiming fog, heavy rain and glaring sunlight can hamper company will also have to navigate a new Texas law taking effect September 1 that requires a state permit for self-driving vehicles and reflects bipartisan calls for a cautious roll-out.
India.com
an hour ago
- India.com
Like Iran, Pakistan also has killer missiles and Chinese J-35A fighter jet, India should buy S-500 air defense system due to...
S‑500 Air Defence System Why India needs Russia-s S‑500 Air Defence System: Amid an environment where the enemies of India are strengthening their defence and air superiority, the only things that will save India are its air defence systems. In the recent India-Pakistan tensions, India's air defence systems like S-400 and Akash missile system played an extremely crucial role but they may not be enough keeping in mind the fact that Pakistan is rapidly enhancing its military and air capabilities by fielding long-range ballistic missiles like Iran's missiles such as Shaheen‑III and Nasr along with the acquisition of Chinese J‑35A stealth fighter jets. Here are all the details you need to know why India needs a much powerful air defence system like S-500 air defence system. Why India needs Russia-s S‑500 Air Defence System! As per media reports, Pakistan is planning to acquire Chinese J‑35A stealth fighter jets with advanced avionics and low radar cross-section, which may cause a sense of concern for India. Readers should note that Russia-s S‑500 Air Defence System would enhance India's ability to intercept advanced threats, thereby restoring a strategic deterrent in a shifting security landscape. Also, the S-500 air defence systems operate at 30-50% higher altitudes than the S-400 air defence system. India to get get remaining S-400 missile systems by 25-26 Russia is committed to delivering the remaining units of the S-400 air defence system to India by 2025-2026, the country's Deputy Chief of Mission in India, Roman Babushkin, said on Monday, highlighting that the system performed 'very efficiently' during the recent India-Pakistan tensions. Babushkin also hinted at expanding bilateral cooperation with India in air defence and anti-drone systems. 'We heard that the S-400 performed very efficiently during the recent clashes between India and Pakistan. We have a long history of collaboration. The air defence systems, according to what we are experiencing, the situation in Europe and here, this is one of the promising topics of our partnership in defence preparation in general,' Babushkin told PTI Videos. (With inputs from agencies)
NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
DeepSeek Aids China's Military And Evaded Export Controls: US Official
Washington: AI firm DeepSeek is aiding China's military and intelligence operations, a senior U.S. official told Reuters, adding that the Chinese tech startup sought to use Southeast Asian shell companies to access high-end semiconductors that cannot be shipped to China under U.S. rules. Hangzhou-based DeepSeek sent shockwaves through the technology world in January, claiming its artificial intelligence reasoning models were on par with or better than U.S. industry-leading models at a fraction of the cost. "We understand that DeepSeek has willingly provided and will likely continue to provide support to China's military and intelligence operations," a senior State Department official told Reuters in an interview. "This effort goes above and beyond open-source access to DeepSeek's AI models," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to speak about U.S. government information. The U.S. government's assessment of DeepSeek's activities and links to the Chinese government have not been previously reported and come amid a wide-scale U.S.-China trade war. Among the allegations, the official said DeepSeek is sharing user information and statistics with Beijing's surveillance apparatus. Chinese law requires companies operating in China to provide data to the government when requested. But the suggestion that DeepSeek is already doing so is likely to raise privacy and other concerns for the firm's tens of millions of daily global users. The U.S. also maintains restrictions on companies it believes are linked to China's military-industrial complex. U.S. lawmakers have previously said that DeepSeek, based on its privacy disclosure statements, transmits American users' data to China through "backend infrastructure" connected to China Mobile, a Chinese state-owned telecommunications giant. DeepSeek did not respond to questions about its privacy practices. The company is also referenced more than 150 times in procurement records for China's People's Liberation Army and other entities affiliated with the Chinese defense industrial base, said the official, adding that DeepSeek had provided technology services to PLA research institutions. Reuters could not independently verify the procurement data. The official also said the company was employing workarounds to U.S. export controls to gain access to advanced U.S.-made chips. The U.S. conclusions reflect a growing skepticism in Washington that the capabilities behind the rapid rise of one of China's flagship AI enterprises may have been exaggerated and relied heavily on U.S. technology. DeepSeek has access to "large volumes" of U.S. firm Nvidia's high-end H100 chips, said the official. Since 2022 those chips have been under U.S. export restrictions due to Washington's concerns that China could use them to advance its military capabilities or jump ahead in the AI race. "DeepSeek sought to use shell companies in Southeast Asia to evade export controls, and DeepSeek is seeking to access data centers in Southeast Asia to remotely access U.S. chips," the official said. The official declined to say if DeepSeek had successfully evaded export controls or offer further details about the shell companies. DeepSeek also did not respond to questions about its acquisition of Nvidia chips or the alleged use of shell companies. When asked if the U.S. would implement further export controls or sanctions against DeepSeek, the official said the department had "nothing to announce at this time." China's foreign ministry and commerce ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. "We do not support parties that have violated U.S. export controls or are on the U.S. entity lists," an Nvidia spokesman said in a prepared statement, adding that "with the current export controls, we are effectively out of the China data center market, which is now served only by competitors such as Huawei." ACCESS TO RESTRICTED CHIPS DeepSeek has said two of its AI models that Silicon Valley executives and U.S. tech company engineers have showered with praise - DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 - are on par with OpenAI and Meta's most advanced models. AI experts, however, have expressed skepticism, arguing the true costs of training the models were likely much higher than the $5.58 million the startup said was spent on computing power. Reuters has previously reported that U.S. officials were investigating whether DeepSeek had access to restricted AI chips. DeepSeek has H100 chips that it procured after the U.S. banned Nvidia from selling those chips to China, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that the number was far smaller than the 50,000 H100s that the CEO of another AI startup had claimed DeepSeek possesses in a January interview with CNBC. Reuters was unable to verify the number of H100 chips DeepSeek has. "Our review indicates that DeepSeek used lawfully acquired H800 products, not H100," an Nvidia spokesman said, responding to a Reuters query about DeepSeek's alleged usage of H100 chips. In February, Singapore charged three men with fraud in a case domestic media have linked to the movement of Nvidia's advanced chips from the city state to DeepSeek. China has also been suspected of finding ways to use advanced U.S. chips remotely. While importing advanced Nvidia chips into China without a license violates U.S. export rules, Chinese companies are still allowed to access those same chips remotely in data centers in non-restricted countries. The exceptions are when a Chinese company is on a U.S. trade blacklist or the chip exporter has knowledge that the Chinese firm is using its chips to help develop weapons of mass destruction. U.S. officials have not placed DeepSeek on any U.S. trade blacklists yet and have not alleged that Nvidia had any knowledge of DeepSeek's work with the Chinese military. Malaysia's trade ministry said last week that it was investigating whether an unnamed Chinese company in the country was using servers equipped with Nvidia chips for large language model training and that it was examining whether any domestic law or regulation had been breached.
