Ajey Lele replies: Broadly, there are two main categories of hypersonic weapons, hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) and hypersonic cruise missiles. The HGVs are launched from a rocket towards the target, while hypersonic cruise missiles are powered by high-speed air-breathing engines called scramjets.

Ajey Lele replies: The main focus of Chinese hypersonic development is definitely the West. However, India needs to be careful since such capabilities can always come in handy for China if it decides to use them against India. Only recently, China has successfully tested its Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGV). Earlier, during 2014–16, China had carried out six successful tests of DF-ZF, a hypersonic missile delivery vehicle. In 2018, China had tested three different designs of scaled-down hypersonic aircraft.