The DF-ZF HGV was launched at the Wuzhai missile test center in central China’s Shanxi Province. It was transported by a ballistic missile near the edge of the atmosphere, where it separated from its launcher and then glided to an impact range a few thousand kilometers away in western China, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
“The DF-ZF flight was tracked by US intelligence agencies and flew at speeds beyond Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound,” Gertz noted.
The DF-ZF HGV warhead is carried to the boundary between space and Earth’s atmosphere, roughly 100 km above the ground, by a ballistic missile booster.
“Once it reaches that height, it begins to glide in a relatively flat trajectory by executing a pull-up maneuver and accelerates to speeds of up to Mach 10.”
The DF-ZF can allegedly reach speeds of between Mach 5 and Mach 10, or 6,173 kilometers (3,836 miles) per hour and 12,359 (7,680) miles per hour. Whether it will be armed with nuclear or conventional warheads remains unclear.
All comments
Reply 
| 4 | Edit | Delete Say goodbye to the containment policy towards China!. Nice weapon here. Reply 
| 4 | Edit | Delete Missile defense (Star Wars) was always exaggerated. It offers some protection regarding aircraft and conventional missiles (as Russia uses it), but the neocons know it can't protect against retaliation for a preemptive strike. It's mostly a scam to justify reckless foreign policy and expensive defense contracts for the US. Reply 
| -1 | Edit | Delete This weapon looks lethal and interesting if the reports are true. Reply 
| 0 | Edit | Delete I am not on Facebook nor wish to be, therefore I cannot reply via Sputnik to comments on Sputnik posted via Facebook. Can't this be fixed? Reply 
| -1 | Edit | Delete impressive work Reply 
| 0 | Edit | Delete I'm not sure how this is significantly more lethal than a conventional ICBM. The reentry speeds of ICBM warheads are usually around MACH 25, greatly higher than the Mach 5 of this glide vehicle. The idea behind the U.S. hypersonic glide vehicle (which the Chinese version is copied from) is that it doesn't have to be launched by an ICBM and therefore, it isn't mistaken for a nuclear weapon, as it will only carry conventional payloads. If one of these is launched, the ICBM launch will be detected and will trigger and immediate counter-response. Reply 
| 0 | Edit | Delete , hi, not being a part of Sputnik IT I cannot give you an answer. I would suggest though that if you do find something of interest in the fb responses, then cut and paste and introduce them here. The people here are usually at a higher level of quality of responses with factual information and provision of links. Also, for your question, I think that instead of being placed in the comments here it would be better if you scrolled down the page - on the right hand side, the final column, at the bottom, there is a link for Contact. You may get a faster response there. Welcome aboard! :) Reply 
| 0 | Edit | Delete I wonder how this weapon will stand up to the wizz bang new laser system the usarmy thinks that it will have in a few years?
Show new comments (0)jas
Tactical Investor
nadezhdochka_25
coolerheads
michaelin reply to(Show commentHide comment)
michael
in reply to(Show commentHide comment)