Chinese scientists have developed a new material that could lead to stealth missiles and combat aircraft.
Technology could potentially compromise the effectiveness of American anti -missile defense systems, including the president Donald Trump“Golden Dome” is very publicized.
Nowsweek stretched out Pentagon And the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry by email for comments.
Why it matters
The United States is concerned with growing intercontinental missiles (ICBM) of China and nuclear arms, including faster hypersonic missiles. These arsenals should become even more capable in the coming years.
Trump ordered the work to start the “Golden Dome”, a shield of satellite missiles. Beijing said it was “seriously worried“About the project, which is inspired by the strategic defense initiative, or” Star Wars “, proposed by former American president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s during the Cold War.
Alex Brandon / Associated Press
What to know
Airplanes and missiles emit strong thermal radiation, created by overheated components such as exhaust nozzles, which increases the risk of detection. These temperatures can also degrade and even destroy the structure of standard materials.
A Chinese research team led by Professor Li Qiang of the University of Zhejiang detailed a possible solution to this problem in a study published in March.
Their new material is designed to escape microwave and infrared detection technologies widely used in modern military surveillance, even when exposed to extremely high temperatures, as indicated by the Morning post in southern China.
To test its stealth potential, the team compared the material to a standard black body or a surface that absorbs various types of radiation.
Even when heated to 700 degrees Celsius (1,292 degrees fahrenheit), the material issued a much lower radiation temperature – 422 degrees Celsius – than the 690 degrees of the black body.
The breakthrough lies in the layer structure of the material, which includes a specialized “metasurface” – a precision motivated layer on which radar and infrared waves interact with it.
The upper layer protects against humidity, while the bottom guarantees that it remains fixed to the surface. Laser engraving throughout the structure allows radar signals to pass without compromising its thermal treatment capacities, according to SCMP.
What people say
Li Qiang, professor at the College of Optical Science and Engineering at Zhejiang University, wrote: “Our device reaches a maximum operating temperature and heat dissipation capacities that exceed the current state of art for IR stealth and microwave at high simultaneous temperature.”
The spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, at a press conference on May 21: “The project (Golden Dome) will increase the risk of transforming space into a war zone and creating a spatial arms race, and shaking the international safety and arms control system.”
The American Defense Intelligence Agency said in a threat assessment published earlier this month: “Missile threats to the American homeland will develop on a scale and to sophistication in the next decade.
“China and Russia develop a range of new delivery systems to exploit gaps in current American ballistic defenses, but traditional ballistic missiles – which are guided during the propelled and not guided flight during free flight – will remain the main threat to the fatherland.”
What happens next
It remains to be seen if and how long the new equipment will be integrated into the platforms of Chinese weapons.
Trump said the Golden Dome would be “fully operational” at the end of his second term in 2029. However, defense analysts expressed doubts that the system can be completed in this schedule or in the planned budget of $ 175 billion.