The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully demonstrated Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) technology during a flight test conducted from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha. The test was carried out recently and marks a major milestone in India’s advanced missile development programme.

The successful demonstration places India among a select group of nations possessing SFDR technology, which is critical for developing long-range air-to-air missiles capable of providing a significant tactical advantage. During the test, all subsystems—including the nozzle-less booster, solid fuel ducted ramjet motor and fuel flow controller—performed as expected after initial acceleration to the required Mach number.

System performance was validated through flight data captured by multiple tracking instruments deployed along the Bay of Bengal coastline. The launch was monitored by senior scientists from several DRDO laboratories, including Defence Research & Development Laboratory, High Energy Materials Research Laboratory and Research Centre Imarat.

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO and industry partners on the successful demonstration, while Samir V Kamat, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO, commended the teams involved in the flight test.