When China held its Victory Day military parade in September, a new generation of hypersonic weapons was on public display, drawing widespread attention.

Among them is the anti-ship missile formation, composed of the YJ‑15 missile and the hypersonic YJ‑19, YJ‑17, and YJ‑20. These four missile types can be deployed from multiple platforms, including shipborne aircraft, surface vessels and submarines.

With long range, extreme speed and tremendous destructive power, they are regarded as cutting‑edge assets for striking hostile forces at sea.

Modern hypersonic weapons usually use waverider designs or biconic-shaped bodies in their core aerodynamic configurations.

What are waverider and biconic-shaped bodies?

A waverider is a type of aircraft shape with a streamlined, flat front end. When a waverider flies faster than the speed of sound, it pushes the air in front of it into an invisible "wall," called a shock wave. The aircraft then uses this "wall" for lift. If one imagines the shock wave as the water surface, a hypersonic waverider skimming along it resembles a stone skipping across a pond.

The biconic structure consists of two cone-shaped sections joined tip to base, resembling two stacked bullet heads. At speeds faster than five times the speed of sound, the air in front of the vehicle is compressed into a strong shock wave. By adjusting the angles between the two cones, engineers can manipulate the pressure difference across the shock wave to create lift, which allows the vehicle to glide like a rider on a streamlined board.

The YJ‑17 and the DF‑17 missiles exemplify the waverider configuration, with front ends shaped like a flattened triangle, while missiles like the YJ‑20, YJ‑21 and DF‑26D adopt the biconic form, with a small cone followed by a larger one, Cao Weidong, a military expert, told China Media Group.

Each design serves different launch platforms and strike missions. With a diverse set of hypersonic missiles, China can address a wide range of targets, whether at sea or on land, stationary or mobile.