U.S. research helps China’s hypersonic missiles

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Chinese organizations involved in developing hypersonic missiles and related technologies have benefited from American research, according to a report made public earlier this month by an Air Force think tank.

“The PRC organizations with which U.S. researchers collaborate on hypersonics include not only actual military organizations, such as the National University of Defense Technology, but also many organizations closely affiliated with the military, such as Beihang University,” the report by the China Aerospace Studies Institute says, using the abbreviation for People’s Republic of China. “These collaborations have the potential to support PRC military research, indicating the need for appropriate screening mechanisms and careful due diligence before embarking on such collaborations.”

The report said a “significant amount” of U.S.-China collaboration on hypersonics has taken place, based on data obtained from Chinese online sources. The collaboration appears focused mainly on propulsion technology along with design technology, materials processing and manufacturing, and flight navigation, guidance and control.

The Pentagon is in a race with China and Russia to build hypersonic missiles, weapons that travel at speeds faster than five times the speed of sound and can maneuver to avoid modern missile defenses and tracking sensors.

The report concluded: “Overall, while U.S. collaborations with PRC institutions on hypersonics are relatively limited and at first glance do not appear to focus on testing applications of existing hypersonic technologies, they are still significant and often involve PRC military or military-affiliated institutions.”

The collaboration appears to be the result of a 40-year U.S. policy that sought to play down or dismiss threats posed by China under the idea that trade and engagement would lead to liberalization and modifications to the communist system. Instead, China has reverted to orthodox Marxist-Leninist policies under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s so-called national rejuvenation policies.

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