How far is India's hypersonic weapons after the successful test of the Mach 6 aircraft
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On September 7, local time, India successfully conducted the "Hypersonic Test Verification Vehicle" (HSTDV) flight test. The scramjet successfully ignited and continued to work for more than 20 seconds at a speed of Mach 6.
Hypersonic speed generally means that the speed of flow or flight reaches or exceeds 5 times the speed of sound, that is, the Mach number is greater than or equal to 5.
This test in India has clearly met this technical requirement.
According to foreign media, this marks India's fourth country to develop and successfully test hypersonic technology after the United States, Russia and China, and will pave the way for India to develop 6 times the speed of sound missiles.
The test flight was successful for the first time, and India achieved overtaking on a curve in the hypersonic field
In this regard, military expert Wenchang told the Science and Technology Daily reporter that India has already begun to develop hypersonic weapons. The HSTDV it has just tested began in 2005, and the model was exhibited at the Indian Air Show in 2007. At the time, it was claimed that it could fly in 2008.
However, due to various reasons, the first flight test was not carried out until 2019. However, at that time, due to a problem with the booster rocket engine, the aircraft was not pushed to the predetermined altitude and speed, which resulted in a failure.
This is the first successful flight test.
Tests have shown that India has indeed made considerable progress in the field of hypersonic technology, achieving overtaking in curves.
Wen Chang said: "HSTDV is a typical aerodynamic layout of the waverider, which is an air-breathing scramjet hypersonic weapon. The'Pioneer' hypersonic weapon launched by Russia is a rocket-assisted gliding hypersonic weapon, which is currently being developed by the United States. Most of the hypersonic weapons are also rocket-assisted gliding hypersonic weapons. In contrast, the hypersonic weapons of the aspirated scramjet engine are more technically difficult, similar to the Russian “zircon” hypersonic cruise missiles. technology."
The reporter learned that hypersonic vehicle technology involves multiple disciplines, and its research methods, methods, and technical approaches to development are different from traditional aircraft.
"Hypersonic vehicles face many technical problems when moving at high speeds at high altitudes, such as thermal protection problems, communication and positioning and navigation problems surrounded by plasma sheaths, and maneuverability problems." Wen Chang explained, "Compare. The difficulty of the air-breathing scramjet technology is even more reflected in the very harsh intake conditions that scramjets face. Someone likened to say that the ignition of a scramjet is equivalent to lighting a match in a hurricane. Ensure that it continues to burn. Therefore, it is quite difficult. At the same time, the attitude control of the aircraft is also difficult. In high-speed flight, a slight error in the angle of attack and sideslip will lead to failure."
“India has not changed its technical route and insisted on independently developing this kind of air-breathing hypersonic weapon. This is impressive.” Wenchang believes, “At present, the flight test of HSTDV has achieved its test purpose and initially verified the heat. Protection technology, scramjet technology, and control technology have entered the gate of the hypersonic aircraft club."
Under numerous technical difficulties, hypersonic missiles are still on the way
People familiar with the matter said that this test means that India will develop a hypersonic missile equipped with a scramjet in the next five years.
In this regard, Wenchang is skeptical.
He said: "For example, the United States has been developing air-breathing scramjet hypersonic weapons for many years, and its typical representative is the X-51A'Wave Rider'. In this test, HSTDV continued to work for more than 20 seconds. The longest continuous working time of X-51A is 210 seconds. X-51A has not been completely successful since its first test flight in 2010 and has experienced many failures during this period. So that the US military has announced the development of several hypersonic weapons in recent years. No one has adopted this technology. Russia’s "Zircon" hypersonic cruise missile has been secretly studied for many years. Although it has also undergone many test launches and has continuously made breakthroughs, can it be expected to reach Service in 2022 remains to be seen. Therefore, it can only be said that India has made breakthroughs in the research and development of hypersonic weapons, but there is still a considerable distance from engineering."
The reporter noticed that HSTDV used the "Agni" missile booster, which was separated from HSTDV after pushing HSTDV to an altitude of 30 kilometers.
Subsequently, the scramjet was successfully ignited.
Wen Chang said that the reason for using missile engines as a booster is that the scramjet requires the aircraft to fly at a speed exceeding Mach 4.5 to start.
The American X-51A uses B-52 bombers to throw, but it still needs to use rocket engines for boosting.
Of course, compared to the X-51A that requires the use of a large bomber that India does not currently have for throwing, and the process involves the separation of aircraft and bomb, the separation of boosters and aircraft, etc., India uses the "Agni" missile booster to a certain extent. Reduce the difficulty of research and development.
However, Wenchang also pointed out that “India has been cooperating with foreign countries in the field of hypersonic weapons, especially the BrahMos-2 hypersonic cruise missile jointly developed with Russia, which is also powered by a scramjet. Pneumatic hypersonic missile. But from the appearance of HSTDV, it is very different from the aerodynamic layout of'Brahmos-2'. It can be guessed that India has more autonomous components in HSTDV. Therefore, it is very important for India We should understand the accumulation of hypersonic weapon technology from a higher level."