Rajnath Singh congratulates DRDO for developing hypersonic technology

New Delhi, Sep 07: Defence minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Monday for successfully flight testing the indigenously developed Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV).

He said the technology is a landmark achievement towards realising the Prime Minister's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India).

Taking to Twitter, Singh said, "The @DRDO_India has today successfully flight tested the Hypersonic Technology Demontrator Vehicle using the indigenously developed scramjet propulsion system. With this success, all critical technologies are now established to progress to the next phase."

"I congratulate to DRDO on this landmark achievement towards realising PM's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. I spoke to the scientists associated with the project and congratulated them on this great achievement. India is proud of them," he said in subsequent tweet.

According to the government, the Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) is an unmanned scramjet demonstration aircraft for hypersonic speed flight, it can cruise at a speed of mach six and move up to an altitude of 32.5 km (20 miles) in 20 seconds.

Besides its utility for long-range cruise missiles of the future, the dual-use technology will have multiple civilian applications also. It can be used for launching satellites at low cost too.

The HSTDV can move up to an altitude of 32.5 km in 20 seconds and once it is achieved successfully, India will enter a select club of countries that have such technology.

The HSTDV cruise vehicle is mounted on a solid rocket motor, which will take it to a required altitude, and once it attains certain mach numbers for speed, the cruise vehicle will be ejected out of the launch vehicle.