[code_biologist]

Chat, is this real? I've seen this guy pop up on youtube. I assume he's a Chinese state mouthpiece as he's a westerner in the mainland with a very pro-China spin (substack recommended the other posts below), but I'm curious how strong the factual basis for this reporting is.

China's factories are in another world - Mar 23, 2025

Chinese factories build fire trucks for under $400,000 in six weeks. In the US, it's $2 million in 4 years - Apr 19, 2025

Iran is blowing up $500 million radars. China's export bans mean they are gone forever. - Mar 16, 2026

[DetroitThrow]

There's a few of these guys that make posts about technology that doesn't materialize after a few years, they can be ignored. There are plenty of pro-China observers that offer grounded analysis of Chinese military-industrial base out there that don't make claims that China has unobtainium technology. /r/LessCredibleDefence has a shortlist of these propagandists.

[fooker]

Yeah it's certainly unimaginable that the civilization that invented gunpowder, cannons, guns, rockets a thousand years ago can make it for cheap now :)

'Hypersonic' missile makes it sound like it's alien technology, no it's solid boosters that do not follow the usual ballistic trajectory with a computer from 1970.

The raw materials cost less than half of a standard car.

[esseph]

"no it's solid boosters that do not follow the usual ballistic trajectory"

Hypersonics do not. They are extremely fast and extremely low flying.

[fooker]

No, hypersonic is a marketing term here that indicates 'difficult to intercept'.

It does not imply anything about speed, just automatic or controlled maneuvering later in the stage than normal missiles do.

[esseph]

The very definition of hypersonic requires at least Mach 5 in terms of speed.

sigh

[fooker]

We have had mach 5 missiles for about 60-80 years now, that's not what the novelty is.

[justin66]

I've only read a few short blurbs about this. What makes you think the booster doesn't follow a normal ballistic trajectory?

[sgc]

That's pretty much the entire point of what people are calling hypersonic missiles. All ballistic missiles fly at hypersonic speeds. The advance is being able to do so at low altitude with maneuverability.

[larkost]

You are correct, but I should point out that Russia has described its Kinzhal missiles as hypersonic, when they are really more of a traditional ballistic missile fired horizontally. So very fast (Mach 10), but not as maneuverable as what the U.S. has been calling hypersonic.

Since the original story here does not provide many details, we can't know which side of that fence this falls on (assuming it is real).

[justin66]

Was there any evidence that the Kinzhals fired, for example, toward Kyiv during the current conflict were fired on a depressed trajectory? I remember reading one account that looked like a plain old interception of a ballistic missile. (which is impressive enough to someone who remembers when "Patriot missile" was not exactly synonymous with excellence)

[fooker]

Kinzhals being intercepted all the time could also be propaganda or missile defense having progressed more than publicly known.

It's not a great idea in war to assume your enemy is incompetent (even when they are).

[justin66]

> That's pretty much the entire point of what people are calling hypersonic missiles.

Most missiles endowed with the "hypersonic" moniker are simply theater ballistic missiles used for standard ballistic missile things, which is part of why I asked the question.

> The advance is being able to do so at low altitude with maneuverability.

Hate to burst your bubble but arms dealers and governments are as capable as anyone else of marketing spin.

[anon7000]

Good question. I think China is undoubtedly far better than the US at advanced, cheap mass-production. So wouldn’t be surprising they could do that for the military too. Not to say the US couldn’t get better.

[rhubarbtree]

Better than the US at producing almost anything at this point. There are a few tiny islands of advantage left for the US in advanced engineering but they won’t last.

Prediction: China will win the new race to the moon for this very reason.

[bamboozled]

This is basically what made the USA a military super power in the first place? At least it's what made them so powerful during WW2 and I guess beyond.

[nclin_]

You don't have to assume: He seems to provide ample detailed western sources to back up his claims in every video.

Perhaps it'd be more difficult for him to broadcast if he had an anti-china perspective, but the content itself seems legitimate.

[magicalist]

> He seems to provide ample detailed western sources to back up his claims in every video

Does he? The only sources seem to be a CNSpaceflight tweet from last november of a promo animation from the missile company, and a South China Morning Post article that is just quoting commentators on Chinese state TV talking about the the possible capabilities of the missiles.

The other sources (someone else's substack that's sourced from a December article[1] from The Independent, and two articles on "interestingengineering") all just quote the same animation and commentators.

[1] https://www.the-independent.com/asia/china/china-hypersonic-...

[kube-system]

China does keep close tabs on foreign bloggers in their country (especially over the past decade or so), and anything remotely nonpositive does get people visits from police or worse. There is a huge chilling effect, even for people who mostly do have positive things to say.