DRDO to have its 2,500km range Long Range Hypersonic Missile within 2 years while BrahMos to have its hypersonic variant in 5 years

Source : IgMp Bureau

Computer Generated Image (CGI) of DRDO's Long Range Hypersonic Missile with HSTDV inside its front section (Image Credit : Twitter @Kuntal_biswas)

At an event to mark 21 years of the maiden supersonic launch of BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile, the CEO of BrahMos Aerospace has said that the Indo-Russian Joint Venture company has started testing of improved ramjet propulsion system in its basic configuration that will enable the BrahMos-NG missile to achieve near hypersonic speeds of Mach 4.5 and the BrahMos-NG will be ready for developmental trials in the next two years and serial production in the next five years.

He also said that BrahMos Aerospace is capable of making BrahMos to hypersonic missile and will be ready with the first hypersonic missile in the next five years.

The plan of BrahMos Aerospace to develop BrahMos with Russia using the Zircon as a base might not happen as the DRDO's Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator (HSTDV) program has already entered Phase-II.

The DRDO will be ready with a 2,500 kilometers range Surface to Surface Hypersonic Cruise Missile by 2024 and 750 kilometers range Air Launched Hypersonic Cruise Missile by 2027.