In what was a surprise announcement, India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) announced late on 16 November, that it had successfully conducted a flight-trial of the nation’s first long-range hypersonic missile.
The hypersonic missile was test fired from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha on India’s East Coast. The new hypersonic missile is designed to carry various payloads to ranges greater than 1,500 kms for the Armed Forces. In a post on X, India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called the flight-trial as a historic achievement which has put India in the group of select nations having critical and advanced military technologies.
The indigenously developed hypersonic missile was developed by the laboratories of the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Missile complex in Hyderabad, various other DRDO laboratories and industry partners. The Indian armed forces currently operate the Indo-Russian BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, which can attain a speed of up to Mach 3.
On a different note, India also communicated that it will acquire Japan’s ‘UNICORN’ communication antenna for its naval warships. The two nations inked a Memorandum of Implementation which was signed at the Embassy of India, Tokyo on 15 November. The Unified Complex Radio Antenna (UNICORN) mast features Integrated Communication systems which will help improve the stealth characteristics of Indian naval warships. Developed by a consortium of Japanese companies, where it is known as the ‘NORA-50’, the UNICORN will be manufactured in India under license by the state-owned defence undertaking Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). When the formal contract for procurement of the UNICORN mast is implemented, it will be the first instance of license production of Japanese defence equipment in India.
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