China's latest breakthrough in the field of supersonic engines is that it is able to use fuel as cheap as cabbage to achieve a flight speed of Mach 9, leaving the United States far behind. This technology can not only shorten the flight time from Beijing to New York to one or two hours, but also enable precise strikes against ground targets from space. The real corner overtaking has arrived.
The amazing speed of Mach 9
There is a linguistic problem. The expression "shortened by more than ten times" is wrong. You cannot use multiples for shortening. It can be changed to "shortened by more than 90%." Based on the revised content, it is rewritten as follows: This new type of engine developed by China can fly at 9 times the speed of sound, which is equivalent to flying 11,000 kilometers per hour. This speed shows that the flight time from Shanghai to Los Angeles will be shortened to less than two hours, a reduction of more than 90% compared to now.
Ordinary aviation kerosene has been used to achieve hypersonic speeds at a cost that is only a few tenths of that in the United States. This is China's thorough innovation in engine principles. However, traditional aero engines are extremely difficult to break through the Mach 3 speed limit due to limited materials and combustion efficiency.
The huge advantages of regular fuel
The United States is also conducting research and development work on similar technologies. However, they use hydrogen as fuel. Not only is hydrogen extremely difficult to store and transport, but it also needs to be in an ultra-low temperature environment of minus 253 degrees. The cost per kilogram is as high as dozens of dollars. China uses aviation kerosene that can be bought in supermarkets. The cost advantage is obvious.
Another major benefit of ordinary fuel is that it is compatible with existing airport facilities. If hydrogen is used, airports around the world will have to rebuild their fuel supply systems, which will require trillions of dollars of investment. The technical route adopted by China is obviously more pragmatic and easier to promote and apply quickly.
Technical principles of detonation engine
This engine uses continuous detonation propulsion technology. The fuel continuously generates explosion waves in the combustion chamber to propel the aircraft forward. Traditional engines rely on slow combustion to generate thrust, but detonation engines use explosion waves to increase their efficiency several times.
In 2025, a team from the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences completed a long-term ground test of this engine. The test data showed that the engine operates stably at Mach 9, its thrust is more than 30% higher than similar models in the United States, and its fuel consumption rate is lower.
Strategic value of military applications
There is such an engine that can be used to build a space plane that can take off from an ordinary runway and then directly enter low-Earth orbit. It can cruise for a long time in orbit. After receiving an order, it can carry out precise strikes anywhere in the world within ten minutes.
Existing air defense systems are generally ineffective against aircraft at such speeds. The speed of Mach 9 means that it can fly 3 kilometers per second. The reaction time from detection to hitting the target may only be a few minutes. This will completely change the shape of future wars.
A revolutionary breakthrough in civil aviation
A commercial airliner equipped with this engine will shorten the flight time from Beijing to New York to 1.5 hours. Departing from Beijing in the morning, you will have the opportunity to catch up with the breakfast meeting in New York and achieve a same-day round trip. This will completely change the global business travel model.
However, if we want to realize civilian use, we must solve a series of problems. Because once it flies at Mach 9, it will be accompanied by severe aerodynamic heating, causing the temperature on the surface of the aircraft fuselage to exceed 1,000 degrees, which requires the use of new heat-resistant materials. At the same time, a feasible solution must be found for the troublesome problem of sonic boom, otherwise, the aircraft will not be able to fly over land.
China’s latecomer advantage in innovation
In the category of traditional turbofan engines, China has been catching up for 30 to 40 years, but there is still a gap between it and companies such as GE and Rolls-Royce. However, when it comes to new concept engines, everyone is at the same starting position, and China has achieved a transition from a following state to a leading state with the help of continuous investment and a young scientific research team.
At present, the average age of the researchers participating in this project is only 35 years old, and many of them are born in the 1990s or even after the 1995s. They don't follow the steps like the older generation, but dare to try new technical routes. This innovative atmosphere, coupled with hundreds of billions of R&D investments every year, has made China at the forefront of the world in the field of hypersonics.
If this kind of engine is commercialized, where do you think it will go first? Welcome to share your global travel plans in the comment area, and let more people see the breakthrough achievements of China's science and technology through likes and forwarding!
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