- China has developed hypersonic glide vehicles capable of launching air-to-air weapons at distant targets
- These weapons threaten high-value US aircraft like tankers and airborne command posts
- China integrates air-to-air and anti-ship capabilities into various hypersonic and cruise missiles
China has developed hypersonic glide vehicles that can launch air-to-air weapons targeting high-value targets such as command-and-control aircraft thousands of miles away, Bloomberg reported, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The new addition to Beijing's arsenal comes at a time when the US is struggling with supplies of crucial air defence missiles and long-range strike weapons following the six months of war with Iran.
It can be a threat to aircraft such as aerial refueling tankers, airborne early-warning and control jets and flying command posts, including the US Air Force's E-4B Nightwatch.
The Chinese military has also added air-to-air capabilities to some hypersonic cruise missiles and built anti-ship capabilities into several types of missiles, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.
China is the only country publicly known to operate and develop hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) capable of launching air-to-air missiles. The developments mark a significant expansion of the country's efforts to use its growing missile arsenal -- largest in the world at more than 3,150 ballistic weapons -- for a wide range of military missions, sources said.
About China's New Weapons
A hypersonic glide vehicle, or HGV, is a warhead that can manoeuvre in the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds after being launched by a missile. Its ability to manoeuvre on its way to a target extends range and makes interception more difficult.
An HGV deployed from China's DF-17 missile could travel about 2,414 kilometres, which is slightly short of the distance from China to the US territory of Guam, a major military site in the western Pacific Ocean.
China's more advanced DF-27 missile has an estimated maximum range of about 8,000 kilometres, potentially putting targets as far away as Hawaii within range.
However, using a weapon derived from a ballistic missile to attack a distant aircraft is costly, difficult and risky. Travelling at a maximum range, a ballistic missile could take 20 minutes or more to reach its target, requiring highly accurate and continuously updated targeting information.
A ballistic missile travelling at maximum range could take 20 minutes or more to reach its target, requiring highly accurate and continuously updated targeting information. That long "kill chain" of getting distant sensor information to the missile reportedly makes operations easier to disrupt.
There is also a risk that an attack using a ballistic missile could be mistaken for a nuclear strike. This so-called discrimination problem, according to Bloomberg, complicates the weapon's use, especially during an all-out war, when it may inadvertently provoke a nuclear response.
China nevertheless appears to be accelerating its missile development.
Inside China's Increasing Arsenal
In a 2026 report, the US Air Force's China Aerospace Studies Institute noted that China's missile modernisation efforts are "increasingly" prioritising the "ability to inflict coordinated, system–level damage across an adversary's operational architecture."
In a May report, Bloomberg highlighted the scale of Beijing's investment in the defence sector and reported that China's missile production has increased in 2025 at its fastest pace since President Xi Jinping took office in 2013.
According to Pentagon estimates, as of 2024, China has at least 3,150 ballistic missiles and 300 ground-launched cruise missiles. Those represent increases of 147 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively, from 2015, when the US started disclosing such estimates.
Future of Conflict
Long-range air-to-air weapons are considered key to any future conflict. The US developed the AIM-174B from its RTX Corp. SM-6 air defence missile; its exact range is classified, but the ground-launched SM-6 has a range of 250 miles or more.
On Saturday, the US Navy said it was testing the AIM-424 Malice air-to-air missile from RTX unit Raytheon Co., which it said had a range of more than 300 miles.
The Lockheed Martin Corp. AIM-260 missile, which is in production but not yet in service, is also expected to have an extremely long range. MBDA Missile Systems Services SAS' Meteor, widely used in Europe, is ramjet-powered and can hit targets more than 100 miles away.
