US report: India among few nations developing hypersonic missiles

Washington, October 22

India is among the select few countries developing hypersonic weapons, an independent Congressional report has said, amid a media report that claimed China recently tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile. The missile reportedly circled the globe before missing its target, demonstrating an advanced space capability that caught US intelligence by surprise.

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The independent Congressional Research Service (CRS), in a latest report this week, said although the US, Russia and China possessed the most advanced hypersonic weapons programmes, a number of other countries, including Australia, India, France, Germany and Japan, were also developing hypersonic weapons technology.

While Australia has collaborated with the US, India has collaborated with Russia on this, the CRS said in its report.

India has collaborated with Russia on the development of BrahMos II, a Mach 7 hypersonic cruise missile, the CRS report said. “Although BrahMos II was initially intended to be fielded in 2017, news reports indicate that the programme faced significant delays and is now scheduled to achieve initial operational capability between 2025 and 2028. Reportedly, India is also developing an indigenous, dual-capable hypersonic cruise missile as part of its Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle programme and successfully tested a Mach 6 scramjet in June 2019 and September 2020,” the CRS said. — PTI