On the evening of July 3, some Shanxi netizens took pictures of the flight path of a mysterious object flying quickly over their homes while enjoying the cool night.

On the evening of July 3, some Shanxi netizens took pictures of the flight path of a mysterious object flying quickly above their homes while enjoying the cool night. And judging from the flight speed of the entire object and the afterimages left by its flight trajectory over the city and its constant maneuvering and orbit changes, perhaps this mysterious flight trajectory is another new type of missile that our country is testing in the atmosphere. hypersonic vehicle .

In fact, in recent years, domestic netizens have photographed this mysterious flight trajectory in many places more than once or twice. For example, when our country conducted anti-missile tests before, the flight afterimages left behind were not only faster, but also had more obvious maneuvering changes. , and it was officially disclosed on its own initiative.

Although the specific details of the new missile tested this time were not announced, judging from the shooting location in Shanxi Province, this missile should not be an ordinary cruise hypersonic missile, but more like a A hypersonic missile that is derived from the ballistic missile or adopts the ballistic flight mode in the initial stage.

Because the Taiyuan Space Launch Center in Shanxi is not only the main launch site for my country's sun-synchronous orbit and polar orbit spacecraft, but also the Taiyuan Space Launch Center has been the test launch site for a variety of advanced weapons and equipment in my country since its construction and operation. . For example, after the Taiyuan Space Launch Center was officially put into operation at the end of 1968, the first launch was not a spacecraft, but the launch mission of the Dongfeng 3 medium-range ballistic missile. In the following 20 years, the Taiyuan Space Launch Center successively undertook the launch of my country's Dongfeng series ballistic missiles. After many test launch missions, it was not until 1988 that the Taiyuan Space Launch Center finally entered the field of space launch after finally launching my country's first meteorological satellite " Fengyun-1" into orbit using the Long March 4A carrier rocket.

However, after undertaking many high-orbit launch missions such as my country's sun-synchronous orbit, the Taiyuan Space Launch Center has not given up the test launch mission of new missiles. In recent years alone, American media have exposed that the Taiyuan Space Launch Center has launched many Dongfeng 31AG and Dongfeng 41 intercontinental ballistic missiles in the past few years. In particular, it has also been responsible for the separate guidance of Dongfeng 41. Nuclear warhead test launch mission.

So on the evening of July 3, this mysterious flight trajectory appeared again in the sky over Shanxi. It may be some new type of hypersonic missile launched from the Taiyuan Space Center. As for whether this new missile uses rocket + ramjet power mode, or turbojet + ramjet power mode?

First of all, judging from the video shot by netizens, although the missile is very fast, its flight altitude is at least within the atmosphere, and even slightly lower than the normal cruising altitude of civil aviation airliners. So from the perspective of flight altitude, using rocket + stamping or Both turbojet and stamping are possible. However, the biggest advantage of rockets over turbojet engines is that they do not consume external air. Therefore, most rocket-powered hypersonic missiles, except for the initial boost phase, are mainly used for the acceleration phase and basically fly at the height of near space. In this way, the air is thin and the flight resistance is small, which is conducive to the missile quickly accelerating to the start-up stage of the ramjet engine . At the same time, the missile has not yet flown out of the atmosphere and can still obtain weak oxygen, which can help the ramjet engine work normally.

The turbojet engine needs to absorb a large amount of oxygen from the outside world from the beginning of ignition, so it is mainly used to accelerate flight in the atmosphere. Judging from the video shot by netizens, the missile speed is very fast, but it can still be clearly seen that in During the entire acceleration process, the flight trajectory of the missile is different. Especially the flight speed of the rear end is very fast and the acceleration can be clearly felt. Then during this flight path, the missile may have completed the boost to the start of the ramjet engine. , during the acceleration process, it may be more likely to adopt the power mode of turbojet + stamping.

And as early as 2020, Xi'an Aerospace Power Research Institute announced to the outside world that it independently developed the world's first successfully tested jet + scramjet engine , and has received approval from the Group Company, the First Academy, and the Sixth Leaders at all levels including the hospital paid attention and supported it, and many leaders came to the site to guide the work and witness the success. Perhaps the new missile tested this time is likely to use the jet + scramjet engine technology previously successfully developed by Xi'an Aerospace Power Research Institute.

If this new hypersonic missile starts to adopt the turbojet + ramjet engine mode, it means that our country will follow the Dongfeng 17 hypersonic missiles that use the solid rocket + glide extended range warhead, and the rumored use of rockets. After boosting the Dongfeng 100 hypersonic missile, my country has "created another great achievement" in the field of hypersonic missiles and successfully mastered the new power mode of turbojet + ramjet.

This not only expands our country’s strength and status in the hypersonic field, but compared to rocket boost, turbojet power also allows the entire missile to be smaller in size and lighter in weight, and can be mounted on a wider range of platforms.