India to develop super hypersonic missiles with Mac7 speed

November 14, 2008
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, Nov 13: India is developing a whole new family of missiles that are quite light in weight and capable of hitting targets with speeds ranging between 7410 km and 8645 km per hour.
According to Defence Research and Development Organisation chief controller (research and development) Dr VK Saraswat, these hypersonic missiles with such great speeds cannot be intercepted by enemies. They will fly at low altitudes of 30 mts and hit the target with great precision.
"The DRDO is spending Rs 50 crore to develop the hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle. The present-day missiles are quite bulky and weighs between 20 and 30 tonnes. Moreover, they fly quite high. We are looking at futuristic missiles with hypersonic speeds and flying low. They are also lighter in weight," Dr Saraswat told reporters a day after India successfully tested 600 km range surface-to-surface missile Shourya.
The DRDO, he said was looking for hypersonic missiles with Mac6 to Mac7 speed (six to seven times the speed of sound. Sound travels at a speed of 1235 km per hour). The new missile will be build using indigenous technology without any foreign collaboration. It will also double up as a long-range cruise missile.
Saraswat said the DRDO was also doing research to make the hypersonic missile as a launch vehicle for satellites. This will help DRDO improve its resources through commercial launch of satellites.
He said the success of Chandrayaan-1 and India's signing of 123 agreement with the USA had opened new avenues in aerospace and nuclear sector. India is going to open up market for 60,000 crore to Rs 70,000 crore in the next 10 years. "But the Indian industry should gear up to grab the opportunity by producing globally competitive projects. There will be eight to 10 new nuclear reactors coming up in the country opening 15 billion to 20 billion US dollars investment opportunities," he said.