India carried out its first successful flight test of a long-range hypersonic missile, designed to carry payloads and with a range of more than 1,500 kilometers, as reported this Sunday by the Ministry of Defense of this Asian country in a statement.
India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) carried out the flight test from Abdul Kalam Island – formerly known as Wheeler Island – on the eastern coast of this country, where India has a missile testing center.
According to the statement, long-range hypersonic missile was tracked by several range systems.
The missile was developed at the laboratories of the Dr. APJ Abdul Karam Missile Complex, as well as by other laboratories of the DRDO and by industrial partners, the Ministry of Defense detailed.
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh called the launch a “important milestone” in a message published this Sunday on his official profile on the social network X.
”It is a historical moment and this achievement significant has placed our country in the group of select nations that have such critical and advanced military technology capabilities,” Singh said.
No further details were given about the missile.
New Delhi has deepened defense cooperation with Western countries in recent years, including in the Quad alliance with the United States, Japan and Australia.
India is also a major buyer of Russian military equipmentincluding Moscow’s S-400 missile defense system, despite the threat of US sanctions over the multibillion-dollar deal.
The test flight comes days after rival and neighbor China showed off its expanding aviation capabilities at an air show, with the J-35A stealth fighter jet and attack drones on display.
That, according to China’s state media, included the debut of the HQ-19 surface-to-air missile system, designed to intercept ballistic missiles and hypersonic glide vehicles.
In 2020, India successfully tested another hypersonic flying device, intended for civil and military use and capable of reaching 7,300 km/h, joining the small club of countries that have successfully developed such advanced hypersonic missile technologies: mainly, the United States. , China and Russia.
Hypersonics are the new frontier in missile technology, because They fly lower and are harder to detect than ballistic missilesthey can reach targets more quickly and can be ordered to change targets mid-flight.
(With information from EFE and AFP)
