It is the Holy Grailthe jewel in the military crown if we talk about missiles. A weapon practically impossible to shoot down with current anti-aircraft systems. China, apparently, has found itas demonstrated by the presentation, this week, of the model GDF-600. A multifunctional advance, a hypersonic weapon with which China wants to conquer the world. With that there are few threats, not even the Russian one.
The mentioned missiles, seen at the China Airshow 2024, are hypersonic missiles, which differ from the others mainly byor its ability to reach speeds five times faster than sound (6,174 kilometers per hour), not only in the last phase of the flight, but especially while heading towards the target.
Combined with advanced maneuvering capabilities, flat trajectory flight and related stealth functions or artificial intelligencethese missiles “are difficult to detect and even more difficult to shoot down”, , specialized in technology.
China unveiled a new hypersonic boost-glide vehicle called GDF-600 at the Zhuhai air show and described it as a versatile platform capable of launching a variety of payloads.
Developed by the Guangdong Aerodynamics Research Academy (GARA), the GDF-600 offers not only kinetic attack capabilitiesbut also capabilities reconnaissance and electronic warfare in a wide operational area. In other words, It is not just any missile designed to directly destroy a specific target..
This multifunction vehicle was designed to carry a combination of submunitions, including hypersonic missiles, unmanned aerial systems and special drones. That is why the GDF-600 project is a significant step in hypersonic technologybecause it can fire carried submunitions while flying at a speed of Mach 7 at a distance of 200 to 600 kilometers and an altitude of up to 40 kilometersdirectly increasing its operating range.
The total weight of the GDF-600 is 5,000 kilos and the payload capacity is 1,200, allowing it to be adapted for specific purposes before the mission. Although not many destructive warheads/drones fit into 1,200 kilograms (a dozen or so at most), thanks to the ability to release these payloads during flight, the vehicle can hit many targets over a wide area.
One of the distinctive features of the GDF-600 is the ability to selectively deploy the payload at different points in its trajectoryand this flexibility allows you to perform multiple attacksdeploy drones for reconnaissance or electronic warfare tasks, making it a versatile tool in complex war scenarios.
The added value
The GDF-600 concept is reminiscent of ongoing work on similar military programs in other countries, as it the US military is exploring similar capabilities as part of the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) program. We are talking about a long-range missile to, among others, carry launchers or MLRSwhich in the future may have a version capable of transporting drones as part of the payload. However, PrSM will never be hypersonic, and This is what makes the Chinese GDF-600 stand outbecause the mere deployment of payloads while flying at such speeds exposes them to enormous physical and thermal loads. Apparently, Chinese scientists had to control it.
The very presentation of the GDF-600 missile highlights the global race in the development of hypersonic technologywhich has been promising for years to revolutionize the face of warfare, offering fast, precise and multifunctional attack options. Although the exact timing of the operational deployment of the GDF-600 remains unclear, Its concept itself points to a future in which hypersonic systems will not only be powerful missiles, but also motherships. capable of attacking multiple targets simultaneously.
