DRDO-DRDL Successfully Completes 1,000-Second Scramjet Engine Test for Advancing Hypersonic Missile Technology.

Science and Technology

In April 2025, the Hyderabad, Telangana-based Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL), a unit of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), successfully conducted a 1,000-second ground test of an Active Cooled Scramjet Subscale Combustor at its newly established Scramjet Connect Test Facility (SCPT) in Hyderabad.


      - This achievement represents a major milestone in India's Hypersonic Cruise Missile Development Programme, following an earlier 120-second successful test conducted in January 2025.

      - The success of this test paves the way for full-scale, flight-worthy combustor testing, an essential step toward the operational deployment of hypersonic missiles.

     

Main Point :-   (i) A Hypersonic Cruise Missile (HCM) is capable of sustained flight at speeds exceeding Mach 5 (>6,100 kilometers per hour), powered by air-breathing scramjet engines that utilize supersonic combustion for extended performance.

      (ii) A Scramjet (Supersonic Combustion Ramjet) is an air-breathing propulsion system without any moving parts, designed to sustain combustion at supersonic speeds.

(iii) It employs a unique flame stabilization technique that allows combustion even when air enters the engine at speeds greater than 1.5 kilometers per second (km/s).

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