DRDO test of ‘ lighter’ missiles successful

In what will boost India’s capability to launch long range air- toair missiles, Defence Research and Development Organisation ( DRDO) on Friday successfully flight tested the second indigenously developed ‘ Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet ( SFDR)’ propulsion based missile system from Integrated Test Range ( ITR), Chandipur in Odisha.

The SFDR fuel technology makes missiles lighter than traditional missiles and thereby increase their range and speed dramatically to hit enemy targets.

India is all set to use this technology in new class of next generation missiles. In traditional missiles, atleast 50 percent of its propellant is mixed with oxidiser that is essential for combustion to generate thrust, which makes the missile heavy. However, the SFDR takes oxygen from atmosphere for combustion making them lighter and fast.

“Ground booster, separation of ground booster and nozzle-less-booster performance were found satisfactory. The missile was guided to high altitude to simulate aircraft release conditions and subsequently nozzle lessbooster was ignited ,” said an official statement. It stated that the SFDR based missile accelerated to achieve ramjet Mach number successfully.” The trajectory was tracked by telemetry and radar stations till touchdown. All the mission objectives have been met,” said the statement.

“The success of SFDR propulsion technology is a significant milestoneand will pave the way for development of long range air- to- air missiles in the country,” it said.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman lauded DRDO and associated team members for the stupendous mission.