China to convert ground-launched artillery into gliders to hit aerial targets, planes

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China to convert ground-launched artillery into gliders to hit aerial targets, planes

Reports have emerged that China is actively converting its ground-launched rocket artillery into low-cost, air-targeting precision gliders. If successful, this could rewrite the history of how cheap munitions could be used against aerial threats.

Led by Professor Zhang Shifeng at the National University of Defence Technology in Changsha, China, the research team has developed a prototype called Tianxing-1 (‘Sky Star-1’). This consists of a modified rocket artillery round with lift-generating wings and adjustable tail fins.

Rocket artillery, like America’s

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, launches rockets rather than conventional shells. Unlike traditional tube artillery, which relies on explosive charges to fire projectiles, rocket artillery uses self-propelled munitions that do not require a barrel.

Typically mounted on mobile platforms, rocket artillery systems can deliver rapid, high-volume barrages over a wide area, making them ideal for saturating enemy positions. While generally less accurate than guided missiles, modern systems increasingly feature GPS or inertial guidance to improve precision.

Teaching an old dog new tricks

Rocket artillery is valued for its mobility, speed of deployment, and ability to overwhelm defenses with concentrated firepower. Interestingly, it is also one of the oldest forms of artillery, with specimens dating back to the early medieval ******* in China.

Modern bona fide rocket artillery, on the other hand, first appeared during World War II, with the ******* Nebelwerfer family of rocket ordnance designs first used in battle. Other examples from the time include the Soviet Katyusha series and numerous other systems employed on a smaller scale by the Western Allies and Japan.

According to a

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by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the new ******** Tianxing-1 transitions into a glider, adjusting its course mid-air to hit stationary aerial targets using passive flight (it doesn’t have an engine after the boost phase).

The munition is particularly fast, traveling at subsonic speeds (~656 feet-per-second or 200 m/s). Moreover, it uses a new guidance algorithm that reduces targeting error from 50m to less than 1m. The new rocket is capable of multi-angle attacks, but is not yet suitable for engaging moving targets or fast aircraft.

Promising, but more work needed

While it’s too slow to chase jets or drones, the Tianxing-1 could be deployed in large numbers as a cheap area denial or aerial ambush system, particularly against slower or hovering targets like helicopters or loitering drones.

Reports also suggest that the new system could, in theory, change how armies think about anti-air warfare, opting for a middle ground between expensive surface-to-air missiles and dumb artillery.

As impressive as the development sounds, it is important to note that the Tianxing-1 is designed as more of a training or a tech demo tool rather than a deployable weapon. However, it successor, Tianxing-2, has reportedly completed successful tests with more advanced targeting systems in northwestern China as per SCMP.

Details of the team’s work were published in the April issue of the ******** Journal of National University of Defence Technology. The study highlights the challenges of guiding unpowered, low-speed gliders to hit “targets in the air.”

If perfected and deployed in swarms, this could add a new layer to anti-air defences, especially in scenarios where cost, saturation, and surprise matter more than speed or raw firepower.

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