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The scattering characteristics of a hypersonic near space vehicle are studied in this paper. The research takes into account the effect of the surrounding flow and wake on the radar cross section (RCS) of the near space hypersonic vehicle. The results show that the maximal plasma density of the surrounding flow, near wake and part of the far wake is higher than the critical plasma density of the ionosphere and much higher than the critical plasma density of the over-the-horizon radar whose frequency ranges from 3 MHz to 30 MHz. The plasma wake may be seen as conducting observation when the radar frequency is lower than the plasma frequency. So the RCS of the plasma wake is even larger than the hypersonic vehicle. On the basis of the numerical analysis，we suggest to detect the near space hypersonic vehicle by an over-the-horizon radar, which may provide longer reaction time for a radar warning system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]