【US Accelerates Efforts to Catch Up with China’s Air-Breathing Hypersonic Missile Technology】

According to a September 9, 2026 report by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post: One year after China unveiled the world's first operational air-breathing hypersonic missile, the United States is launching a program to intensify its development of similar weapons.

As stated on the website of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the agency will convene contractors later this month to outline its vision for the "Next-Generation Hypersonic Cruise Missile" (NGHCM), a project centered on air-breathing propulsion technology.

Different from rocket-powered missiles, air-breathing weapons draw oxygen from the atmosphere rather than carrying all required fuel or oxidizer onboard.

Last year, during a grand military parade in Beijing, China publicly demonstrated this technology with the unveiling of the YJ-19 (Yingji-19) anti-ship missile and the larger, road-mobile CJ-1000. Both are believed to employ air-breathing scramjet engines and have been introduced as operational weapons for the People's Liberation Army. The YJ-19’s distinctive intake duct was visible during the parade, while the CJ-1000 is designed for long-range strikes against land, sea, or aerial targets.

DARPA has made clear that its goal goes beyond upgrading existing technologies. In a recent industry solicitation issued last month, the agency called for entirely new developments in propulsion, fuel, boosters, and systems to address extreme heat challenges associated with hypersonic flight.

This new type of missile could come in various sizes—from tactical weapons carried by fighter aircraft to larger systems launched from bombers or ground platforms. DARPA has asked contractors to consider flight test ranges ranging from approximately 250 nautical miles to 2,000 nautical miles (460 to 3,700 kilometers).

Hypersonic weapons travel at speeds of at least five times the speed of sound, but air-breathing hypersonic cruise missiles operate fundamentally differently from booster-gliding weapons like China’s DF-17. While both require rockets to achieve initial speed, gliding weapons release afterward and glide unpowered to their target, whereas hypersonic cruise missiles switch to air-breathing engines and continue propelling themselves through the atmosphere.

DARPA states that the combination of extreme speed, sustained propulsion, and maneuverability makes such missiles extremely difficult to detect and intercept.

The U.S. has already proven this technology works in flight. The "Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapon Concept" (HAWC), a joint project between DARPA and the U.S. Air Force, featured an experimental scramjet-powered vehicle that flew over 300 nautical miles at speeds exceeding Mach 5—but the program ended in 2023 without delivering an operational weapon.

Russia also claims its Zircon missile, which entered service in 2023, is a scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missile. However, analysis of debris recovered after its use in Ukraine casts doubt on this claim, suggesting the Zircon may instead use solid-fuel rocket propulsion and function more like a quasi-ballistic missile.

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Original article: toutiao.com/article/1875896828812292/

Disclaimer: This article reflects the personal views of the author