By A Correspondent

New Delhi: India has moved a step closer to mastering hypersonic warfare after the Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL) achieved a major technological breakthrough in scramjet propulsion.

In a landmark test conducted on January 9, 2026, DRDL successfully ran a full-scale actively cooled scramjet combustor for over 12 minutes, a critical milestone for the country’s Hypersonic Cruise Missile (HCM) programme.

The information was provided by the Ministry of Defence in a statement issued through the Press Information Bureau.

The long-duration ground test was carried out at DRDL’s advanced Scramjet Connect Pipe Test (SCPT) Facility in Hyderabad and builds upon a subscale test completed in April 2025.

The achievement validates India’s ability to sustain supersonic combustion, the core challenge behind hypersonic flight at speeds exceeding Mach 5, or more than 6,100 kmph.

Hypersonic cruise missiles powered by air-breathing scramjet engines offer unprecedented advantages: long-range precision strike, extreme speed, and near-immunity to existing air defence systems.

The combustor and test infrastructure were indigenously designed by DRDL and realised with support from Indian industry partners, reinforcing India’s push for self-reliance in critical defence technologies.

India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the success as a strong foundation for India’s hypersonic missile ambitions, while DRDO Chairman Dr. Samir V. Kamat praised the teams for placing India among a select group of nations with proven hypersonic propulsion capabilities.

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