Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet successful flight test : How it gives technological edge to DRDO and boosts its long range air-to-air missiles capabilities—EXPLAINED

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully carried out a flight demonstration based on Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) technology from Integrated Test Range Chandipur off the coast of Odisha on Friday, March 5. All the subsystems, including the booster motor and nozzle-less motor, performed as expected. The launch was monitored by senior scientists of various DRDO labs, including Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL), Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory(HEMRL). Soon after the launch, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Secretary Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy congratulated the scientists of DRDO, Indian Air Force and the Industry on the successful flight test of SFDR. 

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Technological advantage and launch 

*During the test, many new technologies were proven, including Solid Fuel based Ducted Ramjet technology. 

*Successful demonstration of Solid Fuel based Ducted Ramjet technology has provided DRDO with a technological advantage, which will enable it to develop long range air-to-air missiles.  

*At present, such technology is available only with a handful of countries in the world. During the test, air launch scenario was simulated using a booster motor. Subsequently, the nozzle-less booster accelerated it to the required Mach number for Ramjet operation. 

*The performance of the missile was monitored using the data captured by Electro Optical, Radar and Telemetry instruments deployed by ITR and confirmed successful demonstration of the mission objectives.