India India successfully tests first long-range hypersonic missile

[Nilgiri]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1857981682453983543

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India successfully tests first long-range hypersonic missile, joins select club

The long-range hypersonic missile is designed to carry various payloads for ranges greater than 1500km for the armed forces.

www.indiatoday.in

ndia 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 on Sunday. This missile is designed to carry various payloads for ranges greater than 1500km for the armed forces.

With this achievement, India has joined a select group of nations possessing such critical and advanced military technology, the minister added.

"India has achieved a major milestone by successfully conducting flight trial of long range hypersonic missile from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island, off-the-coast of Odisha. 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.

This missile has been indigenously developed by the laboratories of the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex in Hyderabad, in collaboration with other DRDO laboratories and industry partners. The flight trial was conducted in the presence of senior DRDO scientists and members of the Armed Forces.

The Defence Minister, Defence Secretary, and DRDO Chairman congratulated the team on the successful trial.

 

[Jammer]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1857987463089680484

 

[Gessler]

This, seen together with SMART is an undeniable indication that we're going for a grand A2/AD strategy based out of the Andaman islands against PLAN.

Also, it seems the upper stage (the missile itself, sans the large booster) ought to be able for VLS-launching out of the BrahMos UVLM on existing ships. It'll have a shorter range in that config (probably ~500km) but would offer a faster way to take out moving (or even stationary) targets compared to the Mach 3 BrahMos.

Still waiting for the Scramjet-powered HCM (developed out of HSTDV tech demo project) though - that would truly turn things on their head in the IOR.

 

[Afif]

 

[Jammer]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1603448574309605376

There was always rumors that we had tested HGV sometime ago.

 

[kakaliam2]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1603448574309605376

There was always rumors that we had tested HGV sometime ago.

Nope, that's a very very depressed trajectory to reach its range at 5000-Km. Otherwise it would add few thousand Kilometers easily and hence the weird thing in the sky. Everyone knows it can reach 8000-Km and MoD would always like to downplay its range not to irk "Garden People".

 

[kakaliam2]

There’s been some debate about the missile recently tested by DRDO, so let me break it down. Specifically, I’m focusing on how the second stage of such missiles works. There are two main types of second-stage propulsion:

1. Unpropelled – Where the second stage simply coasts.
2. Propelled – Where the second stage is powered.

This particular missile falls under the propelled category. But what sets it apart from a regular two-stage ballistic missile? Let me explain.

The Problem with Regular Ballistic Missiles​

To hit ranges of about 1500 km or more, typical ballistic missiles follow a high-arching trajectory that takes them out of the atmosphere (into space) before coming back down. This approach makes them vulnerable to interception in two key phases:

• Mid-course: Systems like SM-3 interceptors can target the missile while it’s in space.
• Re-entry: Systems like THAAD can shoot it down during its descent.

Here’s where a new idea comes in. Instead of taking the missile out of the atmosphere, you could keep it inside the atmosphere the whole time. This is called a quasi-ballistic trajectory, and it essentially renders defenses like SM-3 and THAAD useless because they’re designed for higher-altitude engagements.

What’s a Quasi-Ballistic Missile?​

A quasi-ballistic missile doesn’t zoom up into space; it stays within the atmosphere (at a max height of ~50 km, like the Shaurya missile). This means it’s harder to detect and track with early-warning radars, giving adversaries much less time to respond.

Quasi-ballistic missiles differ from MARVs (maneuverable reentry vehicles) like China’s DF-21 and DF-26. MARVs do go up to ~300-400 km before descending. They rely on terminal-phase maneuvering to dodge systems like THAAD or Patriot. But since MARVs follow a higher trajectory, they’re still more detectable than quasi-ballistic missiles.

Connecting Quasi-Ballistic Missiles to Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGVs)​

Now let’s talk about hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) or, as I prefer to call them, hypersonic maneuverable vehicles (HMVs). These are hypersonic-speed missiles that can maneuver mid-course, within the atmosphere. There are lots of design variations (cones, semi-cones, etc.), but here’s the gist of how they work.

Unlike pure ballistic missiles, HGVs have lift surfaces to generate lift, which increases their range. They don’t just follow a predictable arc. Some HGVs are purely unpowered gliders, while others use propulsion to either stay powered the whole way (sacrificing range) or to glide and then reignite for certain phases.

Adding propulsion gives an HGV a huge advantage because it can:

1. Regain lost speed during sharp maneuvers.
2. Extend its range significantly compared to an unpowered glider.

Control surfaces also make them far more maneuverable, making it even harder for interceptors to predict and target their path. Some HGV designs rely purely on shockwave riding for stability, but adding proper control surfaces makes them much more versatile.

What I Think a “True” Hypersonic Maneuverable Vehicle Should Be​

For an ideal HGV, I’d say it needs three things:

1. A throttleable rocket motor – So it can recover lost speed during maneuvers.
2. Lift surfaces – For gliding (whether powered or unpowered phase).
3. Control surfaces – For better mid-course maneuverability.

The missile DRDO tested seems to check these boxes, though I do think its lift surfaces look a bit small compared to a half-conical waverider design. But hey, design trade-offs are always a thing in missile engineering.

 

[Afif]

*There is no way this missile could remain below 60km inside atmosphere all the way and reach 1500km range. It definitely has to go upto 100km or more for a good portion of its trajectory. (Shaurya is a TBM like Iskander. Not comparable.) It is doubtful if the first stage is able to take it to required altitude on its own. Likely second stage motor kicks in after seperation to take it outside/at the edge of atmosphere.

*'Ideal' HGV should have wedge shape like Avangaurd or DF-ZF to ride its own Shockwave. afaik conventional lift surfaces provide less lift in the altitude hypersonic glider operates in (40km-60km) due to thin air compared to effectively riding its own shockwave. Later generates more lift. And these HGV has control mechanism to maneuver.

@Nilgiri @Gessler could probably add more.

 

[UkroTurk]

So what is that? Ramjet powered cruise missile?
@Nilgiri

 

[Nilgiri]

So what is that? Ramjet powered cruise missile?
@Nilgiri

Conventional ballistic missile (i.e rocket propulsion), just the latter stage harnesses aerodynamic forces and any residual boost power on hand to not follow ballistic trajectory (which are frequently hypersonic in latter stage as well).

So "quasi ballistic" hypersonic.

 

[Nilgiri]

*There is no way this missile could remain below 60km inside atmosphere all the way and reach 1500km range. It definitely has to go upto 100km or more for a good portion of its trajectory. (Shaurya is a TBM like Iskander. Not comparable.) It is doubtful if the first stage is able to take it to required altitude on its own. Likely second stage motor kicks in after seperation to take it outside/at the edge of atmosphere.

*'Ideal' HGV should have wedge shape like Avangaurd or DF-ZF to ride its own Shockwave. afaik conventional lift surfaces provide less lift in the altitude hypersonic glider operates in (40km-60km) due to thin air compared to effectively riding its own shockwave. Later generates more lift. And these HGV has control mechanism to maneuver.

@Nilgiri @Gessler could probably add more.

Some say its HGV rather than the original spec had it as with more conventional lifiting surfaces:

India Conducts Maiden Tests of Long Range Hypersonic and Subsonic Naval Missiles - Naval News

Both the subsonic LRLACM and hypersonic LRAShM will complement the supersonic BrahMos, currently the primary strike weapon of the Indian Navy.

www.navalnews.com

The "worst case" backhand calculation (that ignores horizontal component) I did just now doesnt make a huge difference between 60 km and 100 km apex.

60 km apex gives about 1 km/sec to work with from purely the vertical component when we reach 10 km (P.E converted to K.E)

100 km apex gives about 1.3 km/sec for same thing.

Then convert these to work done (by lift) for a linear trajectory with linear profile of air density in this region (<10km altitude).

The actual final range is not sensitive to it much in strict aerodynamic - gravitational conversion envelope.

i.e I used 1000 km for both 1 km/sec and 1.3 km/sec....and a CL of 0.5

The final ratio for the body (and considering the remaining P.E of the 10 km still to come)....

....comes to about 3 x 10^ -6 for Lifting Area per kg (for V at 1.3 km/sec i.e 100 km apex and now a 10km altitude)

It changes to 1.8 x 10^-6 for the same thing for V at 1 km/sec (i.e 60 km apex).

i.e something like 30 sq cm vs 18 sq cm needed for lifting body that weighs about 1000 kg.

The dummy numbers can be played around in large ranges, but the key takeaway is its not kinematically impossible in perfect materials world with 10 km of final altitude "dense consistent linear profile air" available.

The bigger consideration that is far more complicated to do (given we dont live in a perfect materials world)... would involve the thermal considerations from induced drag, i.e the heat dissipation....and what the lifting surfaces actually are like when deployed (assuming it is not a HGV).

That needs more details unavailable to us though.

If it is a HGV, then the envelopes regarding this become a lot easier for what you have on hand to dissipate and get manoeuvring done earlier/gradually as you want.

 

[Gessler]

*There is no way this missile could remain below 60km inside atmosphere all the way and reach 1500km range. It definitely has to go upto 100km or more for a good portion of its trajectory. (Shaurya is a TBM like Iskander. Not comparable.) It is doubtful if the first stage is able to take it to required altitude on its own. Likely second stage motor kicks in after seperation to take it outside/at the edge of atmosphere.

*'Ideal' HGV should have wedge shape like Avangaurd or DF-ZF to ride its own Shockwave. afaik conventional lift surfaces provide less lift in the altitude hypersonic glider operates in (40km-60km) due to thin air compared to effectively riding its own shockwave. Later generates more lift. And these HGV has control mechanism to maneuver.

@Nilgiri @Gessler could probably add more.

There's various kinds of lifting bodies you can go for, all have a tradeoff to be made.

There are also other HGV bodies in the works as previously shown in some slides:

What they're likely to settle on would depend on a bunch of factors including manufacturing cost. There might even be different HGVs sitting on the booster depending on use-case. The press release does not mention any service in specific and says "Armed Forces" so there are likely to be several versions.

 

[SilverMachine]

Good for India. I've always kinda thought India's the one to watch maybe even moreso than China, going forward. Nice to see the former being able to counter the latter.

 

[Gessler]

Gotta love the rapid output by Kuntal Biswas: