INDIA's HYPERPLANE
aaaditya said:
india has already ground tested the scramjet engine as well as a cryogenic engine ,india is now currently developing a scale model of this hyperplane design
(i beleive it is based on a design rejected by the usa but picked up and developed by the indians).it is supposed to take of vertically and land conventionally(that is for the isro project also known as the re-usable space launcher ,its actual variant is supposed to weigh around 300 tons with a 30 ton payload),the drdo is developing one for the airforce which is to be used for high spead reconaissance,electronic warfare and ground strike roles ,this system is expected to be of the same size as the mig25(i will try and post their images on the indian millitary images thread):coffee
India has indeed tested Scramjet and Cryogenic and is in the process of building HYPERPLANE . Please see below :
Home > News > PTI
India aims to fly hypersonic plane in 2007
January 01, 2004 17:17 IST
Last Updated: January 01, 2004 21:27 IST
Indian defence scientists are aiming to build a plane designed to cruise at speeds three times faster than existing fighter aircraft while consuming less fuel.
The Hyderabad-based Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) is building an 8metre technology demonstrator, which will be powered by a supersonic combustion ramjet (Scramjet) engine that takes oxygen from the atmosphere and burns liquid hydrogen.
"The ground tests of the engine would begin in 2005 and we aim to fly the unmanned aircraft in 2007," DRDL Director Prahlada told PTI in Bangalore.
The aircraft would be built in India's aviation capital, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. It would be a high speed transport aircraft with an engine that does not have a compressor or a turbine.
"The scramjet engine takes in oxygen from the atmosphere, liquefies it and uses it for the cryogenic engine, improving the efficiency of the plane by several factors because the weight of the fuel, particularly for long distances, constitutes around 70 per cent of the total weight of the aircraft," officials said.
The technology demonstrator would be a precursor to President A P J Abdul Kalam's dream project and DRDO's Aerobic Vehicle for Hypersonic Aerospace Transportation (AVATAR).
India has achieved considerable progress in the air breathing engine technology (ramjet) at sub-sonic speed in its surface-to-air Akash missile programme, but is yet to master the technology at supersonic speed of up to Mach 7 (speed of sound is referred to as Mach). "We are improving on our expertise in air breathing engine technology and it would be used in an unmanned aircraft," Prahlada said.
Incidentally, the country is in race with the US, Japan, Russia and China to build a hypersonic plane which is expected to revolutionise low cost space travel. The Indian Space Research Organisation has begun conceptual studies to build and launch a reusable launch vehicle using air-breathing technology by 2015, he said.
DRDL is jointly working with academic institutions, including the IITs and the Indian Institute of Science, besides collaborating with the Mishra Dathu Nigam (Midani) to develop high temperature Nickel-Cobalt alloys and carbon composite materials, which could withstand heat during high-speed flight of the hyper plane.
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