DRDO PROSPEROUS TEST HYPERSONIC TECHNOLOGY

India on Monday tested a local-developed hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle (HSTDV) powered by a scramjet engine, which serves disapproving building block for the next-generation hypersonic cruise missiles. The test of HSTDV was conducted from the Dr. Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast at 11:03 am to display the autonomous flight of scramjet integrates vehicle, mover India right to an extremely exclusive hypersonic club including the Russia and China so far. 

The three countries, obviously are alliance frontwards in the race to develop aerodynamically maneuverable hypersonic weapons which can also defeat emery missile defense systems. China parades its DF-17 missile with a hypersonic slip vehicle at its national military parade last year.

On Monday, the hypersonic cruise vehicle comforts its scramjet-powered flight path at a velocity of six times the speed of the sound for 22 to 24 seconds. It detonator to fly on its own after segregate from the ‘launch vehicle’, which took it to an altitude of 30-km. The launch vehicle was powered by the proven solid-propellant rocket motor of an Agni ballistic missile. 

DRDO chairman Dr. G Satheesh Reddy said while speaking to Time of India, “It’s a major technological breakthrough. The air-breathing scramjet engine was successfully flight-test at hypersonic speed within the atmosphere, meeting all technical parameters. The test paves that way for the development of many more critical technologies, materials, and hypersonic vehicles.”

PM Narendra Modi tweeted by Congratulating DRDO, “The scramjet engine developed by our scientists helped achieve a speed of 6 times the speed of sound! Very few countries have such capability today.”

Rajnath Singh, The Defence Minister of India said, “It was a “landmark achievement” towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. It’s now time to progress to the next phase with “all critical technologies” being established by the successful HSTDV flight test, using the indigenously developed scramjet propulsion system.”

More information about hypersonic technology:

The next stage will be to develop long-range hypersonic cruise missiles, which DRDO scientists said can be possible in the next 5 to 6 years. The complex technology behind the HSTDV, the single launch of which was fallen in last year June, also have low-cost launching of small satellites of civilian applications. 

India still has to achieve support scramjet-powered hypersonic flight for a few minutes, which has been displayed by Russia, China, and the US. The Indian army already has armed forces that have the ramjet-powered BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, which flies at a speed of 2.8, developed together with Russia. Their strike range is being increased from the original 290-km to 400-km now. The scramjet engine is an improvement over the ramjet engine because of the former operates efficiently at hypersonic speeds and which also allows supersonic burning. Ramjets, indifference, works well at supersonic speeds around Mach 3 but their organization drops at hypersonic speed.

In Monday’s test, the cruise vehicle’s “air intake opened as planned” after being moved to a height if 30-km by the launch of the vehicle. DRDO said, “Critical events like fuel injection and auto-ignition of scramjet displayed technological maturity. The scramjet engine performed in a textbook manner.”