A Chinese hypersonic missile faster than five times the speed of sound, racing just above the sea surface, while staying below the radar horizon.

Could this be a new nightmare for the US Navy? Possibly, if a new ambitious low-altitude hypersonic flight research programme launched by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on Monday yields results.

The programme will look into the technology that could support the development of such weapons.

The project, funded under CAS’ Stable Support Programme for Basic Research Youth Teams, is led by the academy’s Institute of Mechanics in collaboration with the University of Science and Technology of China and the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, China’s top-tier institutes with a track record of solving world-class problems.

Low-altitude hypersonic flight could reduce radar detection ranges, shorten warning times and improve penetration of air-defence networks. Potential applications include hypersonic cruise missiles, high-speed uncrewed aircraft and other next-generation strike systems.

To function on the battlefield, these vehicles must withstand extreme aerodynamic heating, severe drag and complex shock-wave interactions, while guidance systems may have to operate through intense electromagnetic disturbances generated by hypersonic flight.

China has already deployed various hypersonic weapons, but these systems rely on high-altitude boost-glide trajectories or high-altitude cruise flight.