India Enters the Elite Club with Successful Hypersonic Missile Test, Long-Range Military Tech Achievement
The successful test firing of its first long-range hypersonic missile by India has marked a historic moment for the country on its journey toward advanced military capabilities. The launch was held on Saturday, 18 November, from the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island in the coast of Odisha. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described it as "a major milestone" and congratulated DRDO for this great success.
The long-range hypersonic missile, capable of carrying multiple payloads, has the capability to travel over 1500 km and is aimed at serving all branches of the Indian Armed Forces. With this successful test, India now joins a relatively small circle of countries that possess both the development and deployment capability of such highly advanced and critical military technologies. The missile was developed indigenously by the DRDO's Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex, Hyderabad, in collaboration with various other DRDO labs and industry partners.
Hypersonic missiles are described as missiles with speeds greater than Mach 5, five times the speed of sound, and this missile probably outstrips 1 to 5 miles per second; such missiles are very difficult to intercept and very strategic for advanced defense systems.
In the presence of senior scientists and officials from the Indian Armed Forces overseeing the test, it conducted the flight trial. The missile performed well, meeting all the primary mission objectives, and with regard to all the maneuvers, it could perform at different altitudes and speeds. A string of range sensors, which includes radar, electro-optical tracking systems, and telemetry, monitored the test very closely, providing total coverage over the missile's performance.
The hypersonic missile test comes at the heels of another such achievement by the DRDO-that was the successful flight test of LRLACM on November 12. Those are significant milestones marking India's surge forward in defense technology as it commits to crossing boundaries to advance in developing those next-generation military systems.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO and the Indian Armed Forces on this development as it is a step forward in the strategic defense preparedness of India. India with the hypersonic weapons will, thus, be in a much stronger position to ensure sovereignty and protect its borders from future threats.
