India test fires ‘un-interceptable’ cruise missile

New Delhi: India’s defense tapestry, woven with threads of indigenous innovation and a deep-rooted warrior spirit, has added another bold streak with the successful test of a hypersonic cruise missile.

This milestone does not just mark an engineering feat but solidifies India’s place in the exclusive club of hypersonic-capable nations.

While ancient India’s arsenals boasted the formidable Brahmastra, today, we wield hypersonic cruise missiles—potent symbols of modern ‘Shastra’ that redefine battlefield dominance.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has conducted a successful flight test of long range hypersonic missile from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast in what was termed as a ‘major milestone’ by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in a post on X. Singh called the successful flight test of the long range hypersonic missile a historic moment which put India in the group of select nations having capabilities of such critical and advanced military technologies.

India’s hypersonic prowess adds a formidable arrow to its quiver, negating Pakistan’s nuclear saber-rattling. With missiles that can strike critical assets, including their strategic centers, India now holds a game-changing deterrent.

This hypersonic missile can reportedly carry various payloads for ranges over 1500km for all the services of the Indian Armed Forces.

Indigenously developed by the laboratories of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex, Hyderabad along with various other DRDO laboratories and industry partners, the flight trial of this was carried out in the presence of senior scientists of DRDO and the Armed Forces.

The missile demonstrated its capability to perform various manoeuvres while flying at various altitudes and speeds. The missile is also equipped with advanced avionics and software to ensure better and reliable performance, the release said.

Hypersonic weapons are those which are travel at hypersonic speed, defined as between 5 and 25 times the speed of sound or about 1 to 5 miles per second.