From years to a week: China unveils superfast software for hypersonic weapon design

2026.03.20 15:20 Long-range CJ-1000 cruise missiles are displayed during a military parade in Beijing on September 3, 2025. Photo: AFP Chinese scientists have developed revolutionary software capable of fully simulating the extreme physics of supersonic fuel combustion in just one week. Previously, the same task could take a supercomputer years to complete, they said. Developed by a research team led by Yao Wei at the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the software was used to run an ultra-high-fidelity simulation of a scramjet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow. It modelled its internal dynamics across hundreds of millions of computational cells – more than 20 times the resolution typical of current global research. Despite the staggering complexity, the full simulation was completed in only seven days. This simulation technology has provided critical support for the model design of a classified national project, according to a report on the website of the Institute of Mechanics in January. In just six years, between the 2019 debut of the DF-17 – the world’s first operational hypersonic glide vehicle – and 2025, China has fielded a full spectrum of hypersonic arms. Two air-breathing models are especially notable: the YJ-19 anti-ship hypersonic missile that can be launched from a warship or submarine, and the long-range CJ-1000 cruise missile that can hit land, sea or even air targets from thousands of kilometres away. Generally speaking, air-breathing hypersonic cruise missiles use scramjet technology to fly with power throughout their journey. Compared with boost-glide missiles, they are smaller, faster and harder to intercept. The United States began researching air-breathing hypersonic technology as early as the 1950s but has struggled to make it work. For hypersonic flight in near space – namely anything that travels at Mach 5 or faster – scramjets are more efficient and reusable than rocket motors or turbojet engines

原文链接: 南华早报