Washington: An independent report of the US Parliament has said that India is among the few countries that are developing hypersonic missiles. This report of the US Parliament comes at a time when a recent media report claimed that China had launched a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile, which circled the entire Earth before missing its target. China has surprised American intelligence agencies with this test.
The US, Russia, and China have the most advanced hypersonic weapons programs, but some other countries, including Australia, India, France, Germany, and Japan, are also developing hypersonic weapons technology, the independent Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in its report this week. are. The CRS said in its report that Australia, America, and India have tied up with Russia in this regard. The CRS report said that India has tied up with Russia to develop the Mach 7 hypersonic cruise missile BrahMos 2.
The report said that although BrahMos 2 was initially targeted to be ready in 2017, news reports indicate that the program has been delayed and is now expected to achieve initial operational capability between 2025 and 2028. The target has been set. “It is reported that India is also developing an indigenous, dual-capable hypersonic cruise missile under its Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle program and successfully test-fired a Mach 6 scramjet between June 2019 and September 2020,” CRS said. did.’
China tested a nuclear-capable missile in August
The Parliament report prepared by experts on the subject for US lawmakers said that India operates around 12 hypersonic wind tunnels and is capable of testing speeds up to Mach 13. According to the news of the newspaper Financial Times, China tested a nuclear-capable missile in August, which orbited the Earth before moving rapidly towards its target. It said that American intelligence agencies were also surprised by this test. However, China said it had tested a hypersonic vehicle and not a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile. The leading British newspaper claimed in its news that China has tested a hypersonic missile with advanced space capability and it missed its target by a distance of about 24 miles.
India is preparing hypersonic missiles with the help of Russia
According to CRS, the US has tied up with Australia on the Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFIRE) program since 2007 to develop hypersonic technologies. Like India, France also has tie-ups and contracts with Russia for the development of hypersonic technology and Japan is developing ‘hypersonic cruise missiles’ and ‘hypervelocity gliding projectiles’.
