DRDO successfully test-fires flight trial of Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Friday successfully tested the flight trial of the Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) booster from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) Chandipur off the Odisha coast.

"The test has successfully demonstrated the reliable functioning of all critical components involved in the complex missile system and met all the mission objectives," the DRDO said in a press release.

As per the release, the SFDR based propulsion enables the missile to intercept aerial threats at very long range at supersonic speeds.

"The performance of the system has been confirmed from the data captured by a number of Range instruments like Telemetry, Radar and Electro-Optical Tracking Systems (EOTS) deployed by ITR," it added.

SFDR has been developed by Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad in collaboration with other DRDO laboratories such as RCI, Hyderabad and HEMRL, Pune.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO for the successful trial of SFDR and said that this is an important milestone towards the development of critical missile technologies in the country.

Complementing the teams involved in design, development and testing, Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development and Chairman DRDO, Dr G Satheesh Reddy said that with the successful trial of SFDR, the range of Air to Air missiles can be enhanced.