China Developing Mach 25 Hypersonic Wind Tunnel For Testing Super-Fast Airplanes

China is building hypersonic wind tunnel to test hypersonic aircraft that can travel at speeds of Mach 25 (30,627kph), and will reportedly cost far less, local media report.

The 265-meter-long wind tunnel, being developed by the State Key Laboratory of High-Temperature Gas Dynamics, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, can simulate wind speeds of between Mach 10 and 25, Han Guilai, a researcher with the lab, said in a China Central Television (CCTV) interview on Sunday.

Hypersonic aircraft are defined as aircraft that travel at speeds of Mach 5, five times the speed of sound, or more, South China Morning Post reported in November 2017.

Han said the current wind tunnel can simulate flights up to Mach 5 to 9, according to the CCTV report. 

A hypersonic wind tunnel can simulate and present the status of air vehicles' thermal power and aerodynamic force as if they are flying at a hypersonic speed, Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday.

It is expected that the tunnel will be up and running by 2020 to assist in the development of China's hypersonic weapons, South China Morning Post reported, citing Zhao Wei, a senior scientist working on the project.