Chinese military scientists have unveiled a rare glimpse into one of the most advanced frontiers of aerospace technology: a prototype of a morphing hypersonic vehicle capable of flying at speeds exceeding Mach 5.

The missile, revealed in a published peer-reviewed paper, features a pair of retractable wings – a groundbreaking design that allows it to dynamically adapt its aerodynamic profile mid-flight.

When stowed inside the fuselage, the wings minimise drag for high-speed cruising. When extended, they generate additional lift and significantly improve manoeuvrability.

Crucially, the degree of wing deployment can be finely adjusted, enabling real-time changes to the vehicle’s overall aerodynamic shape and flight characteristics – a capability long considered the “holy grail” of hypersonic flight.

The design was detailed in a paper published on October 20 in Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica, China’s leading aerospace journal, by a research team led by Professor Wang Peng from the College of Aerospace Science and Engineering at the National University of Defence Technology (NUDT).

The study confirmed the vehicle’s novel control algorithms and key components had successfully passed hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) ground tests – a critical milestone indicating the system is not just theoretical, but viable for real-world deployment.