India’s Successful Test of a Hypersonic Missile

Sub : Sci

SEC : DEFENCE

Why in News

India has successfully conducted a flight test of its first long-range hypersonic missile with a range of 1,500 km, marking a significant technological advancement in defence capabilities.

About the Hypersonic Missile

The missile has been indigenously developed by the DRDO, representing India’s progress in homegrown defence technology.
It is designed to carry various payloads and has a range of over 1,500 km, capable of serving all branches of the Indian armed forces.
The test was conducted by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast.
Hypersonic weapons are those that travel at speeds of at least Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound).
They are Hard to stop and they fly and manoeuvre to avoid detection.
They can also dodge defensive countermeasures.

Types of Hypersonic Missiles:

Hypersonic Cruise Missiles (HCM): It is a cruise missile powerful enough to achieve hypersonic speeds of Mach 5 or higher.
Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGV): The missiles possess a boost-glide system. Their launch is similar to a traditional ballistic missile. The re-entry vehicle is put on a trajectory, instead of following an arc high above the atmosphere, which allows it to enter Earth’s atmosphere quickly.
India has launched the Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) programme, under which it is developing an indigenous, dual-capable hypersonic cruise missile.
India successfully tested a Mach 6 scramjet in 2019 and 2020.
The BrahMos, a supersonic cruise missile, will also be developed in a hypersonic version.
Hypersonic technology so far has been developed and tested by both DRDO and ISRO India.
With this test, India joins an elite group of countries, including the United States, Russia, and China, that possess advanced hypersonic weapon technology.