DRDO successfully demonstrates Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet technology

Chandipur (Balasore): The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Tuesday successfully carried out a demonstration of the Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) technology from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, off the Odisha coast.

The demonstration was conducted at around 10:45 am. With this achievement, India has joined an elite group of nations possessing SFDR technology, which is crucial for the development of long-range air-to-air missiles and provides a significant tactical advantage over adversaries.

According to official sources, all critical subsystems—including the nozzle-less booster, solid fuel ducted ramjet motor and fuel flow controller—performed as expected. After initial propulsion by a ground booster, the system achieved the desired Mach number, following which the ramjet engine functioned successfully.

The performance of the system was validated using flight data captured by multiple tracking instruments deployed by ITR along the Bay of Bengal coast.

The launch was monitored by senior scientists from several DRDO laboratories, including the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and ITR.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO and industry partners on the successful demonstration of the SFDR technology. Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO, Samir V. Kamat, also lauded the teams involved in the successful flight test.