China's 'Smart Shell' Can Travel At Mach 7, Hit Target With Precision: Report

The weapon will be launched by an electromagnetic gun and could prove to be a game-changer on the battlefield.

Chinese military scientists have developed a so-called 'smart shell' that is capable of delivering a precision strike to a target at hypersonic speed. According to South China Morning Post (SCMP), the shell is propelled by an electromagnetic gun and can reach a staggering speed of Mach 7 (seven times the speed of sound). But even at such a high speed, it can receive stable signal from the satellite and continuously adjust its flight path, with a margin of error of less than 15 metres.

Its precision-strike capabilities may make it insufficient to attack smaller mobile objects like tanks, but it would theoretically be ideal for larger, static targets such as warships, or ports.

SCMP said the shell is the realisation of a US military concept that it proposed in 2012. The US had planned to test such a shell within five years (by 2017), but that deadline passed without any concrete result. The US military abandoned the research and development of the weapons system by 2021, the outlet further said.