How China overtook the US in hypersonic arms and may leave air defences ‘powerless’

With the unveiling of the long-range hypersonic CJ-1000 missiles, China has surpassed the United States in the critical race to field practical scramjet propulsion systems, according to a mainland military magazine. Alongside the ship-launched YJ-19, the CJ-1000 road-mobile cruise missile was one of two hypersonic missiles powered by advanced air-breathing scramjet engines on show during the Victory Day military parade in Beijing in September last year. They are the world’s only two operational scramjet-driven hypersonic missiles besides Russia’s ship-based 3M22 “Zircon”. The CJ-1000 is therefore the first and to date only land-based variant of its kind. According to an analysis…