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The United States was the first to test a ramjet hypersonic engine. But now the Chinese have put it into service.
Chinese state media reports that the country has acquired a CJ-1000 ground-based hypersonic missile with a hypersonic-class ramjet engine. Such an engine works differently from a conventional jet engine: at high speeds, the air in it does not have time to completely slow down, and gorenje proceeds in a very fast flow. Due to this, the rocket can fly for a long time in the atmosphere on thrust.
The CJ-1000 is considered to be the first land-based missile of its type, which has been brought to practical operation. Against this background, the comparison with the United States looks inevitable: the Americans are also developing hypersonic programs, but they have not yet seen a ground-based complex with such an engine, which is already in service.
The CJ-1000 was publicly shown in Beijing at a military parade in September 2025. The ship's YJ-19 passed nearby, and this neighborhood shows the logic of the direction well: the emphasis is on hypersound on thrust, and not on short acceleration followed by planning. There are only a few deployed hypersonic missiles with this type of engine in the world. In addition to the Chinese development, the Russian 3M22 Zircon is usually mentioned, but this is a naval weapon.
Why is this particular class of missiles so unnerving for air defense? For the CJ-1000, the flight altitude on the main section is approximately 20-30 kilometers. This is lower than that of gliding hypersonic units, which usually go higher. A lower flight corridor means that it is more difficult for ground-based radars to spot a target in advance. Simple geometry works here: the lower the object flies, the later it appears above the radio horizon, the less time is left for reaction.
At the same time, a ramjet engine with hypersonic power gives its own bonuses and its own pains. Potentially, it allows you to keep high speed for longer and more manageable than in the planning scheme, but you have to pay for it with the complexity of development. In such modes, everything interferes at once: heating and thermal deformations, huge loads, flight stability, control, and the burning of fuel itself in an ultrafast air flow.Gorenje
The history of this technology stretches back a long time. Back in 2013, it was reported about the long-term operation of a ramjet engine with hydrocarbon fuel for 240 seconds. This is an important milestone for hypersonic thrust, because it is critical not to reach the supersonic sound, but to maintain the mode and not destroy the engine with heat and vibrations. Then the path to a mass-produced product begins: testing, repeatability, reliability, integration into the rocket and stable operation on different flight profiles.
The CJ-1000 is called a long-range missile with a heavy warhead. The land-based version has a simple advantage here: it does not need to be squeezed into the ship's shaft and squeezed by weight. Therefore, you can take more fuel and a larger load, and this usually gives you a range.
According to the same data, the CJ-1000 should be launched from a self-propelled launcher of the conveyor-lift-launcher type. A ten-wheeled chassis with a diesel-electric hybrid power plant is mentioned. The range of the complex is called about 2,500 kilometers. In the main section, the rocket allegedly goes at about the speed of Mach 6, that is, about six speeds of sound. It's not individual numbers that matter, but how the rocket flies: fast, relatively low, and with the engine running. With such a flight, radars see the target later, there is less time to intercept, and any error in calculating a second is too expensive.
Chinese state media reports that the country has acquired a CJ-1000 ground-based hypersonic missile with a hypersonic-class ramjet engine. Such an engine works differently from a conventional jet engine: at high speeds, the air in it does not have time to completely slow down, and gorenje proceeds in a very fast flow. Due to this, the rocket can fly for a long time in the atmosphere on thrust.
The CJ-1000 is considered to be the first land-based missile of its type, which has been brought to practical operation. Against this background, the comparison with the United States looks inevitable: the Americans are also developing hypersonic programs, but they have not yet seen a ground-based complex with such an engine, which is already in service.
The CJ-1000 was publicly shown in Beijing at a military parade in September 2025. The ship's YJ-19 passed nearby, and this neighborhood shows the logic of the direction well: the emphasis is on hypersound on thrust, and not on short acceleration followed by planning. There are only a few deployed hypersonic missiles with this type of engine in the world. In addition to the Chinese development, the Russian 3M22 Zircon is usually mentioned, but this is a naval weapon.
Why is this particular class of missiles so unnerving for air defense? For the CJ-1000, the flight altitude on the main section is approximately 20-30 kilometers. This is lower than that of gliding hypersonic units, which usually go higher. A lower flight corridor means that it is more difficult for ground-based radars to spot a target in advance. Simple geometry works here: the lower the object flies, the later it appears above the radio horizon, the less time is left for reaction.
At the same time, a ramjet engine with hypersonic power gives its own bonuses and its own pains. Potentially, it allows you to keep high speed for longer and more manageable than in the planning scheme, but you have to pay for it with the complexity of development. In such modes, everything interferes at once: heating and thermal deformations, huge loads, flight stability, control, and the burning of fuel itself in an ultrafast air flow.Gorenje
The history of this technology stretches back a long time. Back in 2013, it was reported about the long-term operation of a ramjet engine with hydrocarbon fuel for 240 seconds. This is an important milestone for hypersonic thrust, because it is critical not to reach the supersonic sound, but to maintain the mode and not destroy the engine with heat and vibrations. Then the path to a mass-produced product begins: testing, repeatability, reliability, integration into the rocket and stable operation on different flight profiles.
The CJ-1000 is called a long-range missile with a heavy warhead. The land-based version has a simple advantage here: it does not need to be squeezed into the ship's shaft and squeezed by weight. Therefore, you can take more fuel and a larger load, and this usually gives you a range.
According to the same data, the CJ-1000 should be launched from a self-propelled launcher of the conveyor-lift-launcher type. A ten-wheeled chassis with a diesel-electric hybrid power plant is mentioned. The range of the complex is called about 2,500 kilometers. In the main section, the rocket allegedly goes at about the speed of Mach 6, that is, about six speeds of sound. It's not individual numbers that matter, but how the rocket flies: fast, relatively low, and with the engine running. With such a flight, radars see the target later, there is less time to intercept, and any error in calculating a second is too expensive.
