A NUCLEAR-CAPABLE HYPERSONIC GLIDE VEHICLE

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• Recently, it has been reported that China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic glide vehicle that circled the globe before speeding towards its target.
• Several countries, including the US, Russia and China, are developing hypersonic missiles which travel at a speed five times that of sound.
• Though slower than ballistic missiles, they are harder to intercept and can be manoeuvred.

Important points:

• Hypersonic technology developments, in the backdrop of growing US-China rivalry and a year-long standoff with Indian forces in eastern Ladakh, is certainly a threat for India’s space assets along with the surface assets.
• The offence system operating at these speeds would mean a requirement to develop defence systems at these speeds.
• Hypersonic speeds are 5 or more times the Mach or speed of sound.
• Mach Number-It describes an aircraft’s speed compared with the speed of sound in air, with Mach 1 equating to the speed of sound i.e. 343 metre per second.
• Hypersonic cruise missiles- These are the ones that use rocket or jet propellant through their flight and are regarded as being just faster versions of existing cruise missiles.
• Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGV)- These missiles first go up into the atmosphere on a conventional rocket before being launched towards their target.
• Most hypersonic vehicles primarily use the scramjet technology, which is a type of Air Breathing propulsion System.
• This is extremely complex technology, which also needs to be able to handle high temperatures, making the hypersonic systems extremely costly.

Air Breathing Propulsion System

• These systems use atmospheric oxygen, which is available up to about 50 km of earth’s surface to burn the fuel stored on-board thereby making the system much lighter, more efficient and cost effective.
• Examples of Air Breathing Propulsion System include the Ramjet, Scramjet, Dual Mode Ramjet (DMRJ).
• A ramjet is a form of air breathing jet engine that uses the vehicle’s forward motion to compress incoming air for combustion without an axial compressor.
• Fuel is injected in the combustion chamber where it mixes with the hot compressed air and ignites.
• Ramjets cannot produce thrust at zero airspeed; they cannot move an aircraft from a standstill.
• A ramjet-powered vehicle, therefore, requires an assisted take-off, like a rocket assist, to accelerate it to a speed where it begins to produce thrust.
• The ramjet works best at supersonic speeds and as the speed enters the hypersonic range, its efficiency starts to drop.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT