4 days Ago By Firstpost
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on November 16, 2024, conducted a successful flight test of a long-range hypersonic missile from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast. This test has put India in the group of select nations capable of such critical and advanced military technologies. This test marks an important milestone in India’s strategic deterrence capabilities, and now India is among a select group of nations, which includes the United States, Russia, and China.
This hypersonic missile can carry various payloads for ranges over 1,500 km for all three services of the Indian Armed Forces and has a speed of Mach 6. Broadly, there are two main categories of hypersonic weapons: hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) and hypersonic cruise missiles. The HGVs are launched from a rocket towards the target, while hypersonic cruise missiles are powered by high-speed air-breathing engines called scramjets.
Hypersonic weapons are known to be mainly the weapons of deterrence since their speed of travel (more than Mach 5, which means more than five times the speed of sound; Mach 1 is equal to the speed of sound) is capable of penetrating the existing missile defence systems like THAAD or S-400/500. This speed regime can be further divided into two parts. The speeds in the range of Mach 5 and Mach 10 are simply referred to as the ‘hypersonic speeds’, and the ones in the range of Mach 10 to Mach 25 are known as ‘high hypersonic speeds.
’. The hypersonic is normally considered as the technology for the 21st century. However, the development of this technology goes back much before the development of the modern airplane period—that is, the 1930s.
The most known hypersonic missile is the V-2 missile, which was used during the Second World War. In 1942, the V-2 was launched to an altitude of 176 km, making it the first human-made object to travel into space (normally ‘space’ is considered to begin at an altitude of 100 km). The field of hypersonic continues to remain under the process of development, and today various launch platforms and weapon systems are at different levels of the developmental cycle; some are at the level of invention, while others are at the drawing board, designing to development and testing stages.
In recent times, the debate on hypersonic weapons started anew owing to their use in the ongoing Ukraine conflict. On March 19, 2022, Russia had fired hypersonic missiles on the targets in Ukraine, making it the first country in history to use hypersonic missiles in actual war. Subsequently, on a few occasions these missiles have been used by Russia on Ukrainian targets.
Particularly, the attack carried out on March 9, 2023, the simultaneous attack using six missiles was very lethal. The ‘Kh-47 Kinzhal’, also called the ‘Dagger’, is known to travel at speeds of more than 10 Mach. Interestingly, the same war has demonstrated the limitations of this missile system.
In one of the successful interceptions, the Ukrainian Air Force had shot down a Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missile. The missile was successfully engaged by the Patriot Air Defence missile system. It is important to note that existing missile defence systems have some capability towards intercepting hypersonic cruise missiles.
Today, globally the focus of development is more on hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs). Also, few countries are working on developing missile defence systems, which can address the incoming HGV threat. However, development of this technology is expected to take time.
In India, hypersonic research is being pursued mainly by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and private sector agencies like BrahMos Aerospace (a joint venture with Moscow). Possibly, for around 15 years or so, DRDO is known to be working on hypersonic technology development. DRDO is known to be testing various subcomponents for some time now, and the actual testing of the system is known to have started around 2019.
On September 7, 2020, DRDO successfully tested its Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV). With this test, India successfully declared its arrival in the field of hypersonics. The HSTDV had successfully achieved speeds of Mach 6.
This initial flight testing was aimed at validating the aerodynamics of the air vehicle, its thermal properties, and scramjet engine performance. Israel, Cranfield University of the UK, and Russia are known to be providing some assistance for the HSTDV program. DRDO has announced that the November 16, 2024, test has successfully validated various subsystems and has shown excellent terminal manoeuvres.
Along with the manoeuvrability and the speed factor, these missiles also have the ability to fly at lower altitudes. All this would make the existing missile defence architecture of India’s adversaries worthless. On the other hand, it strengthens India’s deterrence mechanism.
Currently, DRDO is also developing BrahMos-II/BrahMos Mark II with BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited. This is a hypersonic scramjet-propelled missile with an expected range of 1,500 km. Initially, India was required to keep the range of this missile to 290 km since it was not a signatory of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).
However, now India has been a member of MTCR since 2014; hence, such restrictions are no longer applicable. Testing of this system is expected to start around 2025, and a fully operational system could be available by 2028. In addition, HTNP Industries Pvt Ltd, an Indian deep-tech start-up, is known to be working on hypersonic technology since 2017.
This company is working on research and design for the development of an operational prototype of a hypersonic glide vehicle, HGV-202F. The system is expected to have a long-range capability with speeds of Mach 15 or more. Presently, the company is working on the development of design, structure, material, and other associated systems.
There is a possibility that India could use HGV-202F, a hypersonic boost-glide vehicle, on ballistic missile platforms like Agni–V. Some reports indicate that BrahMos–II would be used as hypersonic anti-ship missiles. Also, the Indian Air Force is known to have shown interest in deploying hypersonic missiles for both air defence and offensive capabilities.
The year 2024 has been very productive for DRDO’s missile program. During March 2024, it had conducted the first successful flight test of the indigenously developed Agni-5 missile with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-Entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology. During July 2024, it had successfully conducted a flight test of the Phase-2 Ballistic Missile Defence System (BMD).
This was an important step towards demonstrating India’s BMD capability. Now it has successfully tested hypersonic technology. All these tests strengthen India’s nuclear deterrence architecture significantly.
The author is Deputy Director General, MP-IDSA, New Delhi. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
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