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Defence & Security
Mahesh

18/11/24 10:18 AM IST

India’s first long-range hypersonic missile

In News
  • India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight-tested a long-range hypersonic missile off the coast of Odisha.
Hypersonic missile
  • The term “Hypersonic” refers to a speed at least five times the speed of sound (also called Mach-5).
  • This comes down to around a mile per second.
  • Another key feature of such missiles is manoeuvrability, setting them apart from a ballistic missile that follows a set course or trajectory.
  • The two types of hypersonic weapons systems are Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGV) and Hypersonic Cruise Missiles.
  • The HGVs are launched from a rocket before gliding to the intended target while HCMs are powered by air-breathing high-speed engines or ‘scramjets’ after acquiring their target.
Advantages
  • Hypersonic weapons can enable responsive, long-range strike options against distant, defended or time-critical threats (such as road-mobile missiles) when other forces are unavailable, denied access or not preferred.
  • Conventional hypersonic weapons use only kinetic energy, i.e. energy derived from motion, to destroy unhardened targets or even underground facilities.
  • They fly at lower altitudes than ballistic missiles, which means that they may be harder to track at long distances with some surface-based sensors, such as certain radar.
Challenges
  • Basic operations, like communications, also become a significant challenge during hypersonic flight.
  • A system “must maintain connectivity to operators and decision-makers through communications and sensor systems.
  • They are also more costly to develop in comparison to ballistic missiles.
  • Russia and China are believed to be ahead in developing hypersonic missiles while the US is developing a range of such weapons under an ambitious programme.
  • In May this year, the US Army awarded Lockheed Martin a $756 million contract to deliver additional capability for the nation’s ground-based hypersonic weapon system, the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW).
  • Several other countries, including France, Germany, Australia, Japan, Iran, and Israel, are also pursuing projects to develop hypersonic missile systems.
Source- Indian Express

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