Hypersonic missiles can carry 480 kg of nuclear warheads or conventional warheads.
The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) successfully test-fired a long-range hypersonic missile on Saturday evening. Sharing its video, DRDO said the missile was launched from a vehicle glide from APJ Abdul Kalam Azad Island near the Odisha coast. After following the missile’s flight path, the tests were considered successful.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, in a message on X on Sunday morning, said, “With the successful test of this missile, India has joined the group of selected countries that have such military technology. This is a huge achievement and a historic moment for the country.
The range of this long-range hypersonic missile is more than 1,500 kilometers. With this missile, the enemy can be attacked from three locations: air, sea and land. After launch, its speed can reach 6,200 kilometers per hour, which is 5 times faster than the speed of sound.
Characteristics of the hypersonic missile
The peculiarity of hypersonic missiles is that due to their high speed and low trajectory, that is, they fly at low altitude, it is almost impossible to detect them by any radar in the world, including the United States. For this reason, no missile defense system in the world can kill them. Hypersonic missiles are capable of carrying several tons of nuclear weapons. These missiles can carry 480 kg of nuclear warheads or conventional weapons. This missile is considered important for countries with nuclear weapons. Hypersonic missiles are more lethal than subsonic cruise missiles in destroying underground weapons warehouses. According to defense experts, due to their extremely high speed, hypersonic missiles are more destructive. They have mastered maneuverable technology, that is, changing the trajectory in the air. With this, they can also target targets that change location. Due to this ability, it is difficult to escape from them.
DRDO has been working on hypersonic missiles for a long time
India has also been manufacturing hypersonic missiles for many years. DRDO had successfully tested a Hypersonic Technology Demonstration Vehicle (HSTDV) in 2020. According to reports, India is moving towards developing its own hypersonic cruise missile using the HSTDV.
Furthermore, India is engaged in the development of the BrahMos-II missile in collaboration with Russia, which is a hypersonic missile. The range of BrahMos-II will reach 1,500 km and its speed will be 7 to 8 times faster than that of sound (around 9,000 km/hour). Its tests should be carried out by 2024.
Apart from this, countries like France and Britain are working on manufacturing hypersonic missiles. At the same time, North Korea also claimed to be manufacturing hypersonic missiles.
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