DRDO got big success

In a major leap forward for India’s hypersonic missile programme, DRDO on Saturday announced the successful long-duration test of an actively cooled full-scale scramjet combustor.

The Defense Ministry said the “extensive” long-term testing of the “actively cooled full-scale scramjet combustor” has placed India at the forefront of advanced aerospace capabilities.

For any hypersonic missile program, this technology is considered extremely important because active cooling allows the weapon to travel hundreds of miles at incredible speeds.

The test, conducted at the Hyderabad-based Defense Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), achieved a continuous run-time of more than 1,200 seconds (20 minutes), validating the engine’s ability to sustain the extreme thermal loads required for hypersonic cruise missiles.

DRDL achieved a pioneering milestone in the development of hypersonic missiles by successfully conducting “comprehensive long-term testing of an actively cooled full-scale scramjet combustor”, the ministry said.

“A run-time of over 1,200 seconds was achieved at the state-of-the-art Scramjet Connect Pipe Test (SCPT) facility in Hyderabad on May 9, building on the earlier successful test of over 700 seconds conducted in January this year,” it said.

DRDL is a premier DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) laboratory.

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO, industry partners and academia on the successful ground-test of the scramjet engine.

He described the achievement as a “solid foundation” for the country’s hypersonic cruise missile development programme.

“This successful test puts India at the forefront of advanced aerospace capabilities and continuously emerging warfare technologies,” the ministry said in a statement.

It said the ground trials have successfully validated the design of the advanced actively cooled scramjet combustor as well as the capabilities of the state-of-the-art test facility.