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indigenously developed by the
laboratories of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
Missile complex, Hyderabad along
with various other DRDO laborato-
ries and industry partners.

Unlike many other nations, India
has extensive experience in super-
sonic cruise missiles due to the
BrahMos cruise missile, which can
attain a maximum speed of Mach
3. It has been known for quite
some time, that the development
of next generation BrahMos mis-
siles are underway, including the
BrahMos II hypersonic missile and
BrahMos-NG (Next Generation)
variant. The Hypersonic BrahMos-II
will likely be capable of attaining Balance of Power operationalised several hypersonic
speeds of Mach 5 to 7 (5,000 – weapons including the Dong Feng
7,0000 km per hour). However, at Russia has deployed its Kinzhal (DF) 17 (DF-17) and a new hyper-
this point of time, it is not clear if the hypersonic weapons in combat with sonic glide vehicle which can be
recent hypersonic missile tested is Ukraine and has also operational- mounted atop a DF-27. As per the
an all-new weapon or is a BrahMos ised the 3M22 Zircon hypersonic U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency’s
programme. weapon. Russia became the first 2019 China Military Power Report,
nation to have deployed hypersonic People’s Liberation Army (PLA)
weapons in combat when in March was developing a range of technol-
The Indian Government had 2022, the Russian MoD announced ogies to counter U.S. and ballistic
announced the creation of the that it had struck Ukrainian targets missile defence systems of other
nation’s first Hypervelocity not only with cruise missiles but nations and including Manoeuvrable
Expansion Tunnel Test Facility in also hypersonic weapons. During Re-Entry Vehicles (MARV), Multiple
February, this year. The develop- the attack, hypersonic missiles Independently Targetable Re-Entry
ment of this facility added India struck targets more than 1,000 km Vehicles (MIRV), decoys, chaff,
to a list of only a handful of coun- away, taking less than 10 minutes jamming, thermal shielding, and
tries with advanced hypersonic to travel that distance. hypersonic glide vehicles.
testing capability. Developed
by the Hypersonic Experimental
Aerodynamics Laboratory at Due to hypersonic speed and ultra- China Aerospace Science and
the Department of Aerospace high kinetic energy, the Kinzhal Industry Corp (CASIC) has
Engineering, IIT Kanpur, the tunnel missile was able to destroy a developed the CM-401 hyper-
test facility is capable of generating protected Ukrainian underground sonic anti-ship ballistic missile.
flight speeds between 3-10 km/s, arsenal located in a mountainous The CM-401 can perform rapid,
simulating the hypersonic condition. area, which was built in Soviet precision strikes against medi-
times to store special ammunition um-sized or large vessels/land
The facility consists of four major and missiles. A large fuel depot was targets. According to the CASIC,
sections- free piston driver, com- also destroyed using Kinzhal hyper- the CM-401 flies at an average
pression tube, shock /acceleration sonic missiles. In November this speed Mach 4.9 for the majority of
tube and test section with high year, the Russian military launched its flight, and attains a maximum
vacuum system for generating a combined strike on Ukraine with velocity of over 2,000 m/s, reaching
and sustaining the hypersonic what it said was its latest Oreshnik a speed of Mach 6 as it approaches
flow. Named S2, the indigenously intermediate-range hypersonic the target. The CM-401 can carry
designed and developed test facility missiles. a 290 kg warhead and has a
has proved a valuable asset for maximum strike range of 290 km.
ongoing Indian Space Research According to CASIC, the CM-401
Organisation (ISRO) and DRDO The Indian development of a features high destructive power,
missions including Gaganyaan, RLV hypersonic missile, redresses its good penetration capability and a
and hypersonic cruise missiles. asymmetry with China, which has mix of trajectories..
24 | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2024 WWW.GBP.COM.SG/ADT