The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Friday successfully conducted another test of the Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) technology, which is crucial for the indigenous development of the long-range air-to-air missiles.
Pune-based DRDO facility High Energy Material Research Laboratory (HEMRL) has played a key role in the development of the technology.
The DRDO tweeted, “DRDO successfully conducted flight test of Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) Technology today at around 1030 hrs from Integrated Test Range (ITR) Chandipur. All the subsystems including the ground booster motor performed as per expectation.”
– Stay updated with the latest Pune news. Follow Express Pune on Twitter here and on Facebook here. You can also join our Express Pune Telegram channel here.
A senior DRDO scientist said as part of the test, the missile was guised to a certain altitude to create the simulation of the release from an aircraft. After achieving the desired altitude, the nozzle-less booster was fired.
The missile using the SFDR technology achieved acceleration to reach the speed of in the multiples of speed of sound or Mach. To monitor the test parameters, various telemetry and radar stations were deployed. The air-to-air missiles, which use SFDR technology, can achieve longer ranges as they do not require oxidisers, among other reasons, the scientist informed.
Earlier, a successful test of the SFDR technology was conducted in February 2019.
While Pune based HEMRL has developed the nozzle-less booster, DRDO’s two Hyderabad-based facilities — Defence Research and Development Laboratory and Research Centre Imarat — were also part of the project.
