China has achieved a technological breakthrough that has sent shockwaves across the globe, a capability to launch missiles directly from space.
According to a report in China’s newspaper, the South China Morning Post, Beijing has acquired the ability to launch missiles from space. The report claims that China has developed hypersonic missiles capable of reaching speeds up to Mach 20, 20 times the speed of sound. With this technology, China can now launch missiles from space, including from existing or small space stations.
In today’s DNA, Zee News Managing Editor Rahul Sinha analyzes the details behind China’s claims that its new missile technology is capable of global strikes from space.
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How Does This Technology Work?
The technology behind these missiles is based on hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs), which operate in two stages. If China installs such missiles in any of its space stations, they can be controlled by command centres on Earth. These command centres can remotely launch hypersonic glide vehicles from space stations. The glide vehicles, traveling at extremely high speeds, will first re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and then head toward their targets, making their trajectory unpredictable and difficult to intercept.
Why Has This Technology Sent Shockwaves Across the Globe?
The design of these space-launched missiles is so advanced that conventional air defence systems may not be able to detect or intercept them in time. By the time conventional systems identify the trajectory of the missile, it is already very close to its target.
How Did China Achieve This So Quickly?
China launched its hypersonic missile program in 2010. By 2017, it had conducted the first successful test and soon after began working on technology to launch missiles and rockets from space. According to an American scientific report, China tested its hypersonic missile program again in 2021, and now, in just 15 years, China’s hypersonic missile capability has moved from theoretical calculations to operational reality in space.
Strategic Implications
For Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expansionist policy, the technology to launch missiles from space can be considered nothing less than a “Brahmastra” (ultimate weapon). However, this capability has not made China invincible—there are still ways to intercept missiles launched from space.
Can This Threat Be Countered?
There are some ways to counter such threats from Chinese space-launched missiles. For example, it is possible to destroy the satellite or orbital platform from which the missile was launched.
Along with the United States, China, and Russia, India has also acquired technology known as anti-satellite weapons to destroy satellites in space.
In 2019, through a successful test of its Prithvi missile, India demonstrated to the world that the new India is now prepared to counter threats from space as well.
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