According to the South China Morning Post, Chinese naval experts claim to have developed a’smart shell’ capable of delivering a targeted attack to a target at hypersonic speed.
The shell, which Beijing claims can move at Mach-7 speed, or seven times the speed of sound, can change its flight path using satellite navigation systems, the source reported on Monday.
The cutting-edge weapons delivery system can also deliver a warhead to a target with a margin of error of less than 15 metres, it stated. Its precision-strike capabilities may be insufficient for attacking smaller mobile items like tanks, but it is theoretically excellent for larger, static targets like warships or ports.
The development of the military technology, the SCMP said, builds on the US Navy’s proposed development of the ‘dream shell’ – a similar weapons system that was theoretically intended to navigate at a speed of Mach 5 and be guided by GPS satellite signals.
The US military first proposed the concept in 2012, indicating its intention to test-fire the ‘dream shell’ within five years, the SCMP said, but that deadline passed in 2017. By 2021, the US military had abandoned research and development of the weapons system, the report adds.
The Chinese team that developed the Mach-7 shell further stated that, while the United States was the first to develop the technology, they received no cooperation from Western scientists.
“We had no guidance, not even a cursory introduction to guided missile navigation systems, especially the satellite navigation component,” Feng Junhing from China’s Naval University of academic wrote in an academic magazine in November.
The shell technology is likely to be widely deployed in military circumstances since it is relatively inexpensive to create while maintaining the long-range, precision-striking capabilities often associated with missiles.
During launch, however, the shells generate a substantial electromagnetic field, which can damage electrical components such as microchips or antennae, potentially damaging the satellite navigation system.
Chinese scientists claim they solved this problem by creating an antenna that can withstand electromagnetic radiation while retaining precise satellite navigation.
According to the SCMP, Beijing’s navy has recently announced a series of achievements in weapons development, particularly in the realm of electromagnetic weaponry, and ‘war game’ simulations of new military hardware call into question Western nations’ conventional advantages.
