India’s effsonalised defence minister announced the successful test firing of a long-range hypersonic missile on November 17 from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha’s coast. Building on multiple future capabilities, the missile which is capable of carrying different payloads for operation beyond 1,500 km is a great achievement for the Armed Forces.
Being a product of Indian indigenously developed technology by DRDO including Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex Hyderabad and other Benchmark Industry associates, the test fired missile puts India in league with very few nations having state of art Hypersonic Missile Technology including Russia, USA & China. Singh congratulate this achievement stating that, “This massive achievement has placed our country in a group of select nations that posses such vital and modern technologies in the military”.
Defence Minister Manohar Singh congratulated the DRDO, armed forces, and industrial collaborators for the development saying it was a ‘stupendous’ accomplishment. The test re-affirms India’s intention of strengthening the nation’s defence industrial base.
The @DRDO_India has successfully conducted a flight trial of its long range hypersonic missile on 16th Nov 2024 from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island, off-the-coast of Odisha.
Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh has congratulated DRDO, Armed Forces and the Industry for successful flight… pic.twitter.com/wq7yM2YS9f
— रक्षा मंत्री कार्यालय/ RMO India (@DefenceMinIndia) November 17, 2024
In February 2024, IIT Kanpur successfully tested facility to simulate environment for cruise missile of up to speed of 10 km/s for India. The hi-tech facility was set up with grant from the Department of Science and Technology and the Aeronautical Research and Development Board of the Defence Research & Development Organisation or DRDO to support future projects of which was the BrahMos-II programme.
Thus, the short hypersonic is a weapon that flies at a speed of 5-25 mach numbers (1.6 to 8.0 km/s) and possesses considerable difficulties for tracking and targeting. There are two main types: HGVs that are rocketed into space, then glide to their destination targets, and hypersonic cruise missiles that also rely not on scramjet engines. Its capacity to inflict generic or atomic loads and avoid established protection structures poses unique strategic threats because open-air radar structures usually track them towards the final stages of flight.
