17-05-2025
From Budget Drones To Hypersonic Missiles: India's Defence Sector Enters A New Era
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India is soon to get an indigenous hypersonic missile that can fly at a speed of Mach 5. This will mark a significant boost in Indian defence sector.
Army drones that can hit the target are available in India for just Rs 1 lakh, said Major General Ramesh Chandra Padhi (retd), Senior Vice President of IG Drones, at the Network18 Powering Bharat Summit. His remarks are notable as they challenge the conventional belief that defence technologies are expensive.
Speaking at the Defending Bharat panel at the summit, Padhi spoke about FPV Kamikaze — small drones with the capacity to fly at 140 km/hr before hitting the target.
'We have got very small drones, FPV Kamikaze, where you see your target, the speed goes up to 140 km/hr and then it drops directly and hits the target," he said.
Padhi's remarks also indicate that made-in-India defence technologies can be more affordable.
IG Drones recently gained significant attention after being listed in a government release as one of the four drone companies involved in Operation Sindoor. India carried out the operation in response to the 22 April Pahalgam attack that claimed 26 lives.
During the attack, India targeted nine terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
In another significant development in the defence sector, India is soon to get an indigenous hypersonic missile that can fly at a speed of Mach 5, marking a major achievement in the defence sector, informed Dr Sudhir Kumar Mishra, veteran DRDO scientist, who was speaking at the Powering Bharat Summit.
In conversation with Moneycontrol's Managing Editor Nalin Mehta, the ex-DRDO chief said that DRDO recently conducted a hypersonic engine test, and soon it will come out with a hypersonic missile that will reach Mach 5 speed.
'All the technologies for BrahMos were developed in-house by DRDO. We even built the world's largest launcher ourselves," Mishra said.
First Published:
May 17, 2025, 08:37 IST
