Hypersonic weapons are the military buzzword of our time. Many crave them, some claim they’ll “acquire them soon”, others insist they “already have them” by manipulating blurry definitions, but only a handful truly possess the resources and know-how to actually develop and field these remarkable weapon systems. The deliberate confusion and disinformation surrounding these missiles mostly stem from the desire to gain prestige, as fielding such weapons indicates that a country is among the most advanced, richest and most powerful on the planet. However, as previously mentioned, as of this writing, only Russia, China and North Korea have true operational hypersonic weapon systems.

Iran is also reported to have them, although there have been questions about the validity of such claims, including confusion stemming from domestic reports on Iranian “Fattah-1/2” missiles having “only” maneuvering warheads, which would place them in the category of MaRVs (maneuverable reentry vehicles). Obviously, this doesn’t diminish the capabilities of Tehran’s missile propulsion technology, which has proven its effectiveness in last year’s clashes with the United States and Israel, providing Iran with a robust asymmetric advantage. Regardless, the country is now ahead of even the political West in the deployment of either advanced MaRV-equipped missiles or full-blown hypersonic weapons.

Its impressive high-tech leaps notwithstanding, Iran is not the main subject of this article. Namely, we’ll be discussing China and its land-based hypersonic weapon systems, specifically the outstanding CJ-1000. This relatively secretive scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missile is used in land-attack, anti-ship and even air defense roles. According to Chinese sources, the intended targets for CJ-1000 are likely “slow-moving, high-altitude, large aircraft”, such as aerial tankers, AEW&C (airborne early warning and........

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