The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has achieved a major milestone in hypersonic technology by successfully conducting ground testing of an active cooled scramjet subscale combustor for over 1,000 seconds. This test, conducted at DRDL Hyderabad in a new state-of-the-art Scramjet Connect Test Facility, builds on a previous 120-second test in January.
The achievement brings India closer to developing a full-scale flight-worthy scramjet engine. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh praised the DRDO, industry, and academia, calling it a testament to India’s commitment to developing critical hypersonic weapon technologies.
Hypersonic cruise missiles, which travel at speeds over Mach 5, rely on air-breathing propulsion systems like scramjets, and this test validates both the long-duration combustor design and the new testing infrastructure.
