PM Modi lauds DRDO on successful test of Hypersonic tech with potent missile edge

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for successfully flight testing indigenously developed Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV), a state-of-the-art system that adds up to India's aerospace might.

In a tweet Monday evening, PM Modi said the scramjet engine developed by DRDO scientists helped the flight achieve a speed 6 times the speed of sound which very few countries are capable of.

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About Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle

The HSTDV is an unmanned scramjet demonstration aircraft for hypersonic speed flight, which can fly at a speed of Mach 6 and move up to an altitude of 32.5 km in 20 seconds. Besides its utility for long-range air missiles, the technology will have multiple civilian applications too. As per the government, it can also be used for launching satellites at low cost.

With the HSTDV, India will enter a select club of nations that have developed such Hypersonic technology, including the United States, Russia, and China. The vehicle is mounted on a solid rocket motor, which will take it to a required altitude, and once it attains certain Mach numbers for speed, it will be ejected out of the launch vehicle. Subsequently, the scramjet engine will be ignited automatically.

In a media statement, the DRDO said, "With this successful demonstration, many critical technologies such as aerodynamic configuration for Hypersonic manoeuvers, use of scramjet propulsion for ignition and sustained combustion at hypersonic flow, thermo-structural characterisation of high-temperature materials, separation mechanism at hypersonic velocities etc" will be possible. "The highly complex technology serve as the "building block for NextGen Hypersonic vehicles in partnership with industry", DRDO said.

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