China’s YKJ-1000 hypersonic missile, capable of Mach 7 speeds and priced at just US$99,000, is reshaping global defence strategy and Indo-Pacific power dynamics. Explore how Lingkong Tianxing’s breakthrough disrupts missile-defence economics and accelerates hypersonic proliferation.
It’s economics. Materials and even the fuel used by hypersonics (as in maneuvrable high-Mach glide vehicle) have a certain price tag, even in China.
100 kUSD buys far too little of that, even in Russia and China.
Russia has that too, nevertheless Kinzhal and Kalibr (which are lower-Mach and don’t carry a hypersonic glider stage) are both about 10 MUSD.
Just the costs of JP-10/decilin are considerable already.
Depending on the specs, I’d assume the price to be a few MUSD, never under 100 kUSD.
That’s right, if one thing western analysts are famous for it’s never being wrong about China’s tech capabilities.
It’s economics. Materials and even the fuel used by hypersonics (as in maneuvrable high-Mach glide vehicle) have a certain price tag, even in China. 100 kUSD buys far too little of that, even in Russia and China.
wait until you learn about economies of scale and the benefits of controlling the entire supply chain
Russia has that too, nevertheless Kinzhal and Kalibr (which are lower-Mach and don’t carry a hypersonic glider stage) are both about 10 MUSD. Just the costs of JP-10/decilin are considerable already.
Depending on the specs, I’d assume the price to be a few MUSD, never under 100 kUSD.
Chinese industry and technical expertise absolutely dwarfs Russia
In hypersonics Russia currently has a lead over China. Obviously they’re going to catch up rather soon.
Hypersonics cover a wide range of stuff, what this article discusses are cheap low end missiles as opposed to something like Oreshnik.