NEW DELHI: India has successfully conducted a flight trial of a long-range hypersonic missile, marking a significant boost to the country’s military readiness, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said.
The Indian missile, developed by the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation and industry partners, is designed to carry payloads for ranges exceeding 1,500 km (930 miles) for the armed forces, the government said in a statement.
“The flight data … confirmed the successful terminal manoeuvres and impact with high degree of accuracy,” it added.
The global push for hypersonic weapons figures in the efforts of some countries, such as India, which is striving to develop advanced long-range missiles, along with China, Russia and the United States of America.
The test-firing took place from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam island off the eastern coast of Odisha state on Saturday, it said.
With this achievement, India has joined a select group of nations possessing such critical and advanced military technology, the minister added. “This is a historic moment and this significant achievement has put our country in the group of select nations having capabilities of such critical and advanced military technologies,” Rajnath Singh tweeted.
The missile was tracked by various range systems deployed across multiple domains. Flight data obtained from down-range ship stations confirmed the successful terminal manoeuvres and impact with a high degree of accuracy, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which conducted the trials on Saturday night, announced.
