Supersonic and hypersonic flights are slowly becoming reality. Following this path of technology, China has achieved hypersonic speeds that can cut down 14 hour distances to two hours.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing successfully tested their ‘I Plane’. The plane is named so because of its resemblance to capital ‘I’ when viewed from the front. Led by Cui Kai, the study has been published in the journal Science China Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy where the researchers said that their hypersonic plane would need only ‘couple of hours’ to travel from Beijing to New York at a hypersonic speed, a journey that a commercial airline takes 14 hours to complete.

Soon planes will travel across countries in less than an hour

Successfully tested in a wind tunnel, the plane’s hypersonic speed ranged from Mach 5 to Mach 7 (3,800mph to 5,370mph), which is seven times faster than the speed of sound. The ultra-fast plane produced low drag and high lift. The plane could carry around 50 passengers (5 tons) as compared to 200 passengers (20 tons) that a normal Boeing 737 could carry.

A researcher, not directly related to the study, informed South China Morning Post that the I Plane could be used to carry bombs saying that it could be ‘something like a hypersonic heavy bomber’. The development of I Plane points out China’s efforts to be a leader in the hypersonic arms race.

China recently developed hypersonic missiles that can travel at speeds over 7,000mph. Also, the country’s next hypersonic project includes a wind tunnel that will create speeds of around Mach 36, reported Futurism.