2026: Chinese Scientists have been dying mysterious deaths too

The hypersonics field has also lost experts such as Fang Daining, 68, apparently after an unexpected medical episode in South Africa in February this year.

"Fang studied super-strong materials for spacecraft and advanced engines at Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), a key defence research university," the South China Morning Post reported, quoting an obituary it said was posted on the campus of his employer.

Another hypersonics researcher, Yan Hong, 56, who had worked at Wright State University in Ohio before returning to China to join the U.S.-sanctioned Northwestern Polytechnical University, died in March, reportedly following an illness, the South China Morning Post reported.