China alleges to have the only anti-hypersonic missile defense system designed to kill these fast-moving projectiles. Chinese researchers of the PLA report that Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology can determine where one of these weapons capable of Mach 5+ will hit, per South China Morning Post.
Chinese Anti-Hypersonic Missile System
The rocket launches a hypersonic glide vehicle to hit a target. The glide vehicle separates from the missile and travels at least Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, towards the target, The EurAsian Times reported.
It is extremely difficult to track due to its erratic path and capacity to enter space and re-enter the atmosphere in a short time. The US is scrambling to have one of its own because it has no such weapons.
Beijing is way ahead of the US, and the defense system can guess the best way to intercept a superfast missile and set up a counterattack the three minutes ahead.
The typical missile works within an 8-kilometer (5-mile) target zone, which is relatively small for a weapon able to travel that range in less than two seconds.
Zhang Junbiao, a computer scientist in the early warning intelligence department of the Air Force Early Warning Academy in Wuhan, stated that military powers are currently involved in a fierce arms race in developing hypersonic glide vehicles, presenting new and severe challenges to air and space safety.
Zhang and colleagues published work related to their research, stating that trajectory prediction is critical for combat intent assessment and aerospace defense interception via anti-hypersonic missile defense.
China's claims come on the heels of a concerted effort in the United States to develop and test a hypersonic weapon system capable of matching the functionality of its adversaries, China and Russia.
How the US ARRW Works
Meanwhile, the United States recently held an alleged successful test of an Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) hypersonic missile, just days after assessing its Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC).
Attempts in the United States are continuous, and it will take time until a weapon is developed. Notwithstanding, this has not deterred China's efforts to build a ready the possible defense against it.
Hypersonic glide weapons will keep moving compared to an ICBM as it enters the atmosphere; detection becomes nil, and stopping it will be near impossible. Traveling at Mach 5+ will deter any air defense platform, and none can stop it for now.
Zhang, on the other hand, thinks AI can handle such unpredictable tasks and is creating a defense against an uncertain trajectory and extremely high speed. He suggested that AI can get slight hints from a target with data to predict where a missile will land and its flight path.
Developing a way to interpret the data will not be easy, although data from an early warning system has background noise that can confuse the computer.
The Chinese developer said that a deep AI capable of learning could sort out the noise and target data, similar to a human focus but faster.
A new deep AI can run on a laptop with results in only 15 seconds, said the Chinese study, and it can detect up to speeds of Mach 12.
China claimed last March that it has an anti-hypersonic missile built with Artificial intelligence, with the bonus of designing a new superfast weapon on its own.
Related Article : Chinese Scientists Develop Hypersonic Infrared Homing Missiles That Can Kill F-22 Raptors, Hit Moving Targets
