News Brief
India’s Hypersonic Weapons Programme Hits Milestone As DRDO Successfully Tests Scramjet Combustor For Over 16 Minutes
Pic Via DRDO
In a major step toward advancing India's hypersonic weapons programme, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully completed long-duration ground testing of an Active Cooled Scramjet Subscale Combustor.
The test, conducted by DRDO's Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) at the newly established Scramjet Connect Test Facility in Hyderabad on Friday (25 April), lasted for more than 1,000 seconds.
The milestone builds on an earlier round of testing in January this year, which lasted 120 seconds.
The extended run is seen as critical validation for both the scramjet combustor design and the infrastructure developed to support India's hypersonic ambitions.
Hypersonic Cruise Missile is a class of weapons that can travel more than five times the speed of sound (greater than 6,100 Kmph) for long duration and is powered by air breathing engine.
"This test validates the design of long duration scramjet combustor as well as test facility," the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
According to DRDO, the latest tests pave the way for full-scale flight testing of a scramjet combustor, a key step toward the realisation of a hypersonic cruise missile.
The effort involved collaboration across DRDO laboratories, industry partners, and academic institutions.
"Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh has complimented DRDO, Industry partners and academia for the remarkable achievement. He termed the success as a reflection of the Government’s strong commitment in realising critical Hypersonic Weapon Technologies for the nation," the ministry said.
