{"id":42122,"date":"2025-04-26T19:14:59","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T13:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=42122"},"modified":"2025-04-26T19:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T13:45:13","slug":"drdo-breakthrough-india-advances-hypersonic-propulsion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/26-04-2025\/drdo-breakthrough-india-advances-hypersonic-propulsion","title":{"rendered":"DRDO\u2019s Breakthrough: India Advances Hypersonic Propulsion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Science &amp; Technology; Defence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>DRDL, a laboratory under DRDO, successfully conducted ground testing of an <strong>Active-Cooled Scramjet Subscale Combustor for over 1000 seconds.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It marks a crucial step towards advancing <strong>Hypersonic Weapon Technology in India.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About Hypersonic Propulsion Technology<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is a cutting-edge field focused on enabling vehicles to travel at speeds exceeding <strong>Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"becfde\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"328\" height=\"314\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mach-number.png\" alt=\"mach number\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-42128\" style=\"--dominant-color: #becfde; width:308px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mach-number.png 328w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mach-number-300x287.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 328px) 100vw, 328px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is primarily used in hypersonic cruise missiles and advanced aerospace systems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Features of Hypersonic Propulsion Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Air-Breathing Engines:<\/strong> Hypersonic vehicles use <strong>Scramjet (Supersonic Combustion Ramjet) Engine,<\/strong> which <strong>rely on atmospheric oxygen<\/strong> for combustion instead of carrying onboard oxidizers.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It makes them more efficient for sustained high-speed flight.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Scramjet (Supersonic Combustion Ramjet) Engine<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A Scramjet is an air-breathing engine that operates efficiently at hypersonic speeds by allowing supersonic combustion of air.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"e7deda\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"366\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Scramjet-Supersonic-Combustion-Ramjet-Engine.png\" alt=\"Scramjet Supersonic Combustion Ramjet Engine\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-42125\" style=\"--dominant-color: #e7deda; width:472px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Scramjet-Supersonic-Combustion-Ramjet-Engine.png 640w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Scramjet-Supersonic-Combustion-Ramjet-Engine-300x172.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Key difference from a Ramjet:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In a Ramjet, air slows down to subsonic speeds before combustion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In a Scramjet, air remains supersonic throughout the process, allowing higher speeds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Working principle: <\/strong>Uses the vehicle\u2019s forward motion to compress incoming air without any rotating compressor.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India became the <strong>fourth country after the USA, Russia, and China<\/strong> to demonstrate flight testing of a Scramjet engine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Significance of the Scramjet Engine Test<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Validation of Long-Duration Supersonic Combustion: <\/strong>The test confirms the design and efficiency of the scramjet combustor, ensuring sustained high-speed flight capabilities.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It follows an earlier 120-second test conducted in January, demonstrating incremental advancements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Strengthening India\u2019s Hypersonic Missile Program:<\/strong> Scramjet engines enable air-breathing propulsion,<strong> reducing reliance on onboard oxygen<\/strong> and enhancing missile range.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The successful test paves the way for full-scale flight testing of hypersonic cruise missiles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsonair.gov.in\/drdo-achieves-major-milestone-in-scramjet-engine-development-with-successful-1000-second-ground-test\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source: News On AIR<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">DRDL, a laboratory under DRDO, successfully conducted ground testing of an Active-Cooled Scramjet Subscale Combustor for over 1000 seconds.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>About Hypersonic Propulsion Technology<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">It is a cutting-edge field focused on enabling vehicles to travel at speeds exceeding Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound).<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">It is primarily used in hypersonic cruise missiles and advanced aerospace systems.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/26-04-2025\/drdo-breakthrough-india-advances-hypersonic-propulsion\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42122"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42142,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42122\/revisions\/42142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}