DRDO successfully flight tests hypersonic technology vehicle: All you need to know

India on Monday, Sept 7, became the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China to develop and successfully test hypersonic technology from APJ Abdul Kalam testing range in Balasore, Odisha

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the successful flight of Hypersonic Test Demonstration Vehicle on Monday, Sept 7

The Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) was launched atop an Agni-I rocket, based on a short-range ballistic missile, which took it to an altitude of 18.6 miles and hypersonic velocity,

The HSTDV tests the indigenously developed hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology. A scramjet typically only functions properly at high speeds, requiring some kind of booster, generally a rocket motor, to accelerate it to operating velocity.

The hypersonic cruise vehicle was launched using a proven solid rocket motor, which took it to an altitude of 30 kilometres, where the aerodynamic heat shields were separated.

The hypersonic combustion sustained, and the cruise vehicle continued on its desired flight path at a velocity of six times the speed of sound, which is nearly two kilometres per second, for more than 20 seconds.

The critical events, like fuel injection and auto-ignition of the scramjet, demonstrated technological maturity.

HSTDV will pave the way toward a practical weapon in the next five years. Alongside the HSTDV, India is also continuing to work with Russia on the scramjet-powered Brahmos-2 hypersonic cruise missile, with a preliminary agreement signed back in 2012 and involving both the DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia.