China New Hypersonic Vehicle: WU-14
Author: Dasein
In
2014, some of the US media said China successfully tested a Mach 10 hypersonic
vehicle, named WU-14 by the US government. The media said WU-14 worked in 100km
above the sea level. 100km is an abnormal altitude for hypersonic vehicle
because the US hypersonic transport vehicle (HTV) worked in a much lower
altitude, let say 70000ft for X-51 [1]. It seems that WU-14 was flying as
ballistic missiles (Altitude: 150km up [3]). In the sky 100km above the sea, there
is no oxygen [4], therefore WU-41 is a rocket powered vehicle. For 70000ft sky
level, X-51 can enjoy 5% oxygen in the sky, therefore X-51 is powered by JP-7
(the US military fuel) or ethylene.
[Pic 1: American PGS]
Regards to the altitude, WU-14 is
not very much alike with X-51, HSSW [5] or DARPA [6] programme. I would say
WU-14 is some kind of ballistic technology. WU-14 can be very sophisticated,
but it may not as complicated as the cutting edge HTV technology.
[Pic 2]
It
would be important for us to understand more about what WU-14 can do. Regard to
the US HTVs, they are usually experimental planes, reconnaissance planes or
missile vehicles. For example, Prompt Global Strike (PGS) [7] is a conventional
missile system operating 50000ft above the sea level. It seems that China has
no demand in using HTV as transportation vehicles. Also, the very high altitude
of WU-14 makes it unlikely to be reconnaissance planes because WU-14 may not provide
images better than satellite images. Eventually, it is more likely for WU-14 to
be developed as weapon vehicle.
If
WU-14 is designed to carry conventional weapons, we can implied 2 facts: WU-14
is not designed to fight against nuclear states, such as the US and Russia,
because a real nuclear strike back will be fired before WU-14 lands on enemy
soil. Also, WU-14 can provide a strategical support. Taking the potential war
zones into account, WU-14 should have range about 1000km in order to cover
South Korea, some part of Japan and Taiwan.
Some
people would think WU-14 is just a short range ballistic missile. However, I
believe that there are some differences between WU-14 system and ballistic missile.
With
reference to Kanwa Defence Review (KDR) (No.111), KDR did not noticed any Naval
nor Second Artillery Corps officer in a military drill against Taiwan. In other
words, there could be no ballistic missiles for supporting military action
strategically. WU-14 can be the one option that the Air Force in hand for rapid
air support.
To sum
up, WU-14 is a vehicle filled with many unknowns. However, it is almost certain
that WU-14 is designed to fight against Taiwan and Japan. WU-14 could become
the best advertisement for F-35B (STOVL plane), THAAD and NMD system in the Far
East.
Picture Source:
[Pic 1]: Viewed 16th Jan, 2014, http://news.malaysianreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/supersonic-china-delivery-vehicle.WU-14.jpg
[Pic 2]: Viewed 16th Jan, 2014 4http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/PLA_ballistic_missiles_range.jpg
Reference:
[5]: HSSW, Lockheed Martin, Viewed 16th Jan,
2014, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/high-speed-strike-weapon--hssw--.html
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