A cricket-loving Chinese rocket scientist, attached to the Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC) has defected to the U.S. carrying with him secrets of the hypersonic glide vehicle, a weapon that Washington has been struggling to develop.

The scientist is reported to be connected with the development of a space-based hypersonic glide vehicle missile delivery system that can strike any target on earth and is beyond the interception ability of current western missile defence systems.

“His defection has allowed Britain and the US to accelerate defensive programmes against the use of hypersonic missiles. It could also take China two years to tweak its systems and render this intelligence ineffective”, Express.co.uk reported quoting its sources.

See Also:

2022 Chinese horoscope: 12 animals forecast for the year of the Water Tiger

Chinese defector helped develop hypersonic boost-glide vehicle

The defector was “attached” to AVIC where he “helped develop a mid-range hypersonic boost-glide vehicle capable of carrying DF-17 missiles to a range of up to 2,000 miles,” the sources told Express.co.uk.

The scientist contacted a British intelligence asset in Hong Kong in September 2021 where he told the contact person that he was willing to provide detailed information about the hypersonic glide vehicle in exchange for asylum for himself, his wife and child.

Read more: Defense World