Chinese military scientists have unveiled a prototype of a shape-shifting hypersonic vehicle capable of flying at speeds exceeding Mach 5.
According to information from the South China Morning Post, the missile was revealed in an article published on October 20 in Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica, China’s leading aerospace scientific journal.
The project was developed by a research team led by Professor Wang Peng from the College of Aerospace Science and Engineering at the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT).
The missile features a pair of retractable wings—an innovative design that allows it to dynamically adapt its aerodynamic profile during flight, a capability long regarded as the “final frontier” of hypersonic flight.
When retracted inside the fuselage, the wings minimize drag for high-speed cruise flight; when extended, they generate additional lift and significantly improve maneuverability.
According to the article, the “transformable” hypersonic vehicle successfully completed critical ground tests with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), a major milestone demonstrating that the vehicle’s design is not merely theoretical but viable for real-world applications.
The authors stated that the new design, which enables shape-shifting during flight, offers significant advantages over traditional vehicles. “High-speed transformable vehicles represent a cutting-edge direction in next-generation aerospace platforms,” they said.
“Compared to conventional high-speed vehicles with fixed geometry, transformable vehicles can optimize aerodynamic performance in response to complex flight environments, dramatically enhancing maneuverability and mission flexibility.”
Photo: NUDT. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
