In an effort to develop indigenous niche technology, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Headquarters, Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) have jointly conducted ambitious hypersonic vehicle trials.
The trials achieved all required parameters and demonstrated hypersonic vehicle capability, the ISRO said on Friday. Russia, China, and the US are the other countries having this sophisticated technology.
A hypersonic vehicle is a vehicle that travels at least 4 times faster than the speed-of-sound, or greater than Mach 4. A hypersonic vehicle can be an airplane, missile, or spacecraft.
These vehicles are highly manoeuvrable and do not follow a predictable arc as they travel and can deliver conventional or nuclear payloads within minutes.
The Indian hypersonic vehicle will take another three to four years to become fully operational.
In 2020, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully demonstrated the hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology with the flight test of the Hypersonic Technology Demonstration Vehicle (HSTDV).
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 were proven.
