Research by the washingtonpost website reveals that American technology supports the development of Chinese hypersonic missiles. According to the study, advanced American software products are purchased by military organizations in China, through private Chinese companies. This, despite US export controls designed to prevent sale or resale to foreign entities considered a threat to US national security.
“Scientists at Chinese military research academies and the companies that assist them, said in interviews that American technology – such as aeronautical engineering software – fill critical gaps in local technology and are a key to progress in Chinese weapons,” according to the publication.
“In this case American technology is superior – we can’t do certain things without foreign technology,” said one Chinese scientist who works in a university lab that tests hypersonic vehicles. “There is not the same technical basis.”
Some of the American companies whose products end up in Chinese military research groups have benefited from Defense Department grants to spur cutting-edge innovation. That’s according to a database of federal programs. Paradoxically, it turns out that the Pentagon is subsidizing Chinese military progress.
The Washington Post mapped more than 300 sales since 2019 of U.S.-sourced technology to dozens of entities involved in China’s hypersonics or missile programs. Six Chinese scientists working in military laboratories and universities described nearly unlimited access to U.S. technology with applications in missile design and testing.
To build a hypersonic rocket, scientists need to solve advanced physics problems associated with rocket flight. Wind tunnel tests, like the one China did in 2021, are expensive. Using commercial American software, the result of years and sometimes decades of research and development, shortens the time and resources needed for such tests. American products also have applications in commercial aerospace, as well as in other areas where China and the US compete, including aircraft engine design.
The acquired technology includes engineering software, such as aeroelasticity software, in which the extreme physical conditions experienced by airborne vehicles can be simulated and analyzed. This allows engineers to virtually test designs without relying solely on more expensive wind tunnel testing and live trials. Other sales include hardware such as interferometers, which can be used to capture accurate data in wind tunnel tests.
“I’m going to plan [טיל היפרסוני] With these software tools,” said one American researcher who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. “I’m going to fly it on a computer and analyze it with these tools. And once I got the model to the point where it flies in my mission, I can go test it in a wind tunnel.”
Exporters are responsible according to Ministry of Commerce guidelines to determine if their distributor is selling to a restricted or blocked party. “What we’ve always told companies is that you can’t blind yourself,” said Matthew S. Borman, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Export Administration Department, in an interview. “You can’t just say, ‘Oh, I’m selling it to a distributor, I don’t know what they’re going to do with it.’ Especially if it’s a distributor that can easily be determined to be a supplier to the Chinese military.”
According to the publication, one of the companies that received more than $2.5 million in Pentagon SBIR grants from 2010 to 2017, according to the program’s database, sold interferometer technology to the China Air to Air Missile Research Institute in January through distributor in China Opturn Company Ltd.
The Washington Post also found evidence about Arizona-based 4D Technology Corp., which makes interferometers — devices used to capture extremely precise measurements in turbulent conditions. American researchers say they are used to collect data in hypersonic tests.
4D and Opturn did not respond to the Washington Post article.