A hypersonic aircraft believed to be owned by the Chinese military has generated white plumes of light in the sky captured by residents in Beijing and northern regions of Shaanxi province and Inner Mongolia, Metro reported Friday.
Chinese military bloggers associated the phenomenon with the country’s hypersonic glide system, dubbed DF-ZF, that is expected to be operational by 2020.
The East Asian country’s defense ministry announced in 2014 that it was working on the aircraft, which has been tested seven times since its launch.
The report said the aircraft is built to travel at speeds of up to Mach 10 as well as carry nuclear payloads and perform precision strikes.
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