DRDO starts work on ‘next-gen’ hypersonic weapon

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is working on manufacturing a hypersonic missile, that would be capable of travelling at a speed five times faster than that of sound.

This means, the next generation hypersonic weapons will have the capacity to move at a speed of about a mile per second.

Senior government officials have informed that a wind tunnel is being worked on at the moment where the weapon will be tested and fine-tuned, before it is put to operational use.

According to a Hindustan Times report, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is most likely to inaugurate the tunnel facility soon.

The defence research body of the country is reportedly exploring the feasibility of several niche technologies right now and the hypersonic weapon happens to be one of them.

Hypersonic weapons are touted as “next-generation” weapon systems, and all the defence superpowers of the world are rushing to add them to their inventory. The United States, China, and Russia have already begun testing various types of hypersonic weapons to strengthen their combat units.

Notably, the re-entry vehicles of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) are also known to travel superfast. However, the hypersonic ones are easier to manoeuvre, which makes it nearly impossible to track or intercept them. In fact, the next-gen weapons are being developed specifically to counter and survive ICBM attacks.

Meanwhile, to provide an impetus to defence manufacturing in India, DRDO Chairman G Satish Reddy has offered 1,500 of its patents, which include missile technology and naval technology.

These patents can be accessed by start-ups and medium and small manufacturing units free of cost.

Explaining why the patents are being offered for free, Reddy said: “DRDO is determined to encourage industry to develop advanced defence equipment thereby making the Make-In-India programme a success. We have today a 1,800-industry base, we are determined to enlarge this base and take the technological capability to a higher level.”