India Joins Hypersonic Missile Technology Race

India’s state-run Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) flight tested Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) on September 7, 2020.

“DRDO has today successfully flight tested the Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle using the indigenously developed scramjet propulsion system. With this success, all critical technologies are now established to progress to the next phase,” Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh tweeted.

With the successful test, India joins the United States, Russia and China that have active hypersonic missile programs. Hypersonic weapons are considered the next evolution of missiles where their sheer speed- up to 3-4 times that of supersonic missiles will be able to get past the current generation air defence systems.