India’s hypersonic missile, Shourya, was
successfully test-fired from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur,
Orissa, on Saturday, in its final configuration. The missile flew at 7.5
Mach, that is, 7.5 times the speed of sound and covered its full range
of 700 km in 500 seconds.
This was the third successful launch of
Shourya, a surface-to-surface missile and it paves the way for its
production and induction into the Navy. It can carry both nuclear and
conventional warheads. Shourya is the land-variant of the K-15
underwater missile that is being fitted into India’s nuclear-powered
submarine, Arihant. So Shourya can be used by both the Navy and the
Army. It can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads.
The missile rose from a canister fixed
on the ground “on the dot” at 2.30 p.m., climbed to an altitude of 40 km
and traversed 700 km at 7.5 times the speed of sound.
It performed a terminable manoeuvre and
closed in on the pre-designated impact point in the Bay of Bengal with a
high degree of accuracy. The missile was designed and developed by the
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Avinash Chander, Chief Controller
(Missiles and Strategic Systems), DRDO, said “the flight went off
absolutely perfectly” and it met all the mission objectives. The radars
located at the ITR, Chandipur and at Damra, also in Orissa,
electro-optical and telemetry systems and two ships located near the
impact point tracked the missile’s entire flight. They reported on “the
excellent performance” of the missile.
“It gave us full confidence for the
production of this class of systems. The launch was to certify the
production process and offer the missile for further production,” he
said.
Asked what was the altitude at which
Shourya flew, Mr. Chander said it “was an entirely atmospheric flight”
at a height of 40 km.
V.G. Sekaran, Director, Advanced Systems
Laboratory (ASL), Hyderabad, called it “a good flight” and he was
confident that the production of Shourya would go on as per plan because
the missile this time was picked up from the production lot. “We
achieved the full range for the ground launch configuration,” he said.
The ASL had developed the rocket motors
for the two-stage missile and built the canister from which it took off,
Dr. Sekaran said. Both the stages use solid propellants. The missile is
10 metres long, 74 cm in diameter and weighs 6.2 tonnes.
It was ejected from the canister fixed
on the ground, by means of a gas generator developed by the High Energy
Materials Research Laboratory, Pune and the ASL, both DRDO laboratories.
Source:The Hindu
Link: http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/article2482010.ece?homepage=true
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