Bhubaneswar, Jan. 10 -- The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Friday achieved a major milestone in India's Hypersonic Missile Programme with the successful long-duration ground test of a full-scale, actively cooled scramjet engine.

The test was conducted by the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad, at its state-of-the-art Scramjet Connect Pipe Test (SCPT) facility on January 9. During the trial, the scramjet full-scale combustor operated continuously for over 12 minutes, marking a significant advancement in hypersonic propulsion technology.

According to DRDO, the achievement builds on an earlier long-duration subscale test carried out on April 25, 2025, and represents a crucial step towards...