We have our own technology demonstrator & a battle proven Brahmos missile for the supersonic missile technology with other examples being Astra, RudhraM and Shaurya in our hands with which we are able to dominate the skies and our neighbours. We have our ballistic missiles too. But hypersonic missiles supercede the supersonic missiles to win the race & dominate our adversaries with it's extraordinary quick reaction time & it's speed. While RudraM-1 is supersonic RudraM-II is hypersonic with the rated speed of Mach 5.5(6891Kms/h). Shaurya is another hypersonic missile in land attack mode.
Brahmos-II is a hypersonic cruise missile under development by India & Russia with around 6-8 Mach having 1500Kms range which may reach the user hand within few years. Indigenously developed hypersonic cruise missile of the same range and the rated speed will be tested soon with our scramjet engine.
Pakistan, which had acquired the PL-15E AAM missile recently along with J10C & JF17 fighters had tried to show it's muscle power during the "Sindhoor" operations conducted by our defence forces. The PL-15 is considered as a significant threat due it's advanced technology with ASEA radar for superior targeting capabilities.
Even the western powers are worried about the speed of the missile which is around 5 Mach that's difficult to intercept at this hypersonic speed. The J10C & JF17 fighters fitted with this missile & the integration of the terrestrial radars & satellites with GPS system inclusive of other communication techniques in the network centric Warfare make the missile a deadly asset for Pakistan. These missiles were found inside our territory while they were shot down by the air defence systems with one being broken down with it's accessories clearly visible not detonating it's war head.
DRDO is said to be keenly inspecting & analysing the ASEA radar, avionics & the scramjet rocket technology of this Chinese missile wherein the allied nations those include US, UK, & Australia are also interested in deeply knowing the make & "know-how" of it's missile technology.
Hypersonic interseptor with it's integrated systems like sensors, radars, FoF are designed to intercept fast moving & incoming enemy missiles, aircrafts etc. with very high speeds above 5 Mach is an evolving technology by the technologically advanced nations of the globe which actively develope this system as of now to safeguard their highly precise assets which are important targets for others.
The best examples include "Arrow 3" developed by US in coordination with Israel and "THAAD" system by US seperately.
Russia's primary hypersonic interceptor missile system is S500 which includes the PL-19 Nudol in it. Khinzol can be used both for offensive and defensive purposes. Avangad, zircon & Oreshnick are some of the other hypersonic missiles from Russia.
Hypersonic missiles are hard to track, intercept & destroy as they travel with very high speed more than 6000Kms/h(5 Mach) as all the advanced nations like US, France, UK, India & China work on this technology for intercepting these missiles wherein some of which have almost succeeded it. Pakistan is keen to acquire this technology from China.
Developing & deploying these hypersonic interseptor missile system is a costly endeavour which requires eloborate research & developement to design & fabricate the required circuits & algorithms to track these high speed missiles while the stricker himself being faster than the incoming adversary missile in parallel with the ground tracking system having long range radars & intelligent electronic homing circuits which react very quickly with respect to the incoming missile.
The Russian R-37M(RVV-BD) AAM missile is one of the longest ranged air to air missile with a speed of Mach 6 is highly dangerous for the opponents which is currently in deployment having a range more than 300Kms to around 400Kms with almost nil reaction time for the adversaries.
We should too develope an Air to Air missile with the speed of Mach 6 to counter the PL-16E missile having a range of atleast 300Kms. This can help us to develope the hypersonic missile interceptor Systems like Kusha project in near future that can intercept the adversary missiles for a range of atleast 400 Kms.
