An adaptive control law design approach using the guardian maps theory is proposed for hypersonic vehicles over the control requirements of a broad flight envelope and wide parameter variation range. Firstly, a linear parameter varying (LPV) model throughout the whole flight envelope is established, and an initial controller structure and parameter are designed at the boundary of the parameters variation range. Secondly, the parameter change range of the initial controller structure is analyzed so as to ensure the system stability; furthermore, based on the guardian maps theory, the corresponding controller parameters can be automatically obtained in relation to the expected performance criterion over the whole flight envelope by the step-by-step iteration. Besides this, the complete adaptive control law is acquired with the integration of these obtained control parameters by applying the curve-fitting mean. The proposed method is able to automatically search a set of controller parameters meeting the performance criterion in the whole flight envelope according to the initial controller, and at the same time to determine the design range guaranteeing global stability of the closed-loop system. Simulation results show that the designed adaptive control law can drive this close system to reach the anticipated design requirements for hypersonic vehicles and also to ensure robust stability of the whole closed-loop system. ©, 2015, AAAS Press of Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics. All right reserved.