Dhvani Hypersonic Missile: Check Range, Speed, and Other Key Details

India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) plans to flight-test the Dhvani hypersonic missile by the end of 2025. It is a milestone decision that will bring India onto the same platform as the US, Russia, and China in the exclusive club of countries operating hypersonic weapons. 

Designed as a future-generation Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGV), Dhvani holds the promise of a quantum jump across existing missile-technology limits with unmatched speed, stealth, and precision in both land and sea-strike missions.

Dhvani Hypersonic Missile: Range and Speed

Dhvani is capable of reaching speeds over Mach 6—about 7,400 km/h—nearly double that of the legendary BrahMos cruise missile. With its hypersonic glide feature not only pushing beyond defense capabilities of modern-day missile defense systems but also ushering in unanticipated in-flight maneuvering, interception becomes all but impossible. The operational range of the missile is estimated at between 6,000 and 10,000 kilometers, the potential to double India's longest-range ICBMs such as the Agni-V.

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Launch Mechanism and Flight Profile

Unlike conventional cruise missiles, Dhvani utilizes a two-stage propulsion system. The first rocket booster takes the missile to exorbitant heights, after which the glide vehicle releases and re-enters the atmosphere, sustaining hypersonic velocity. 

DRDO Gears Up for Dhvani Hypersonic Missile Test by End-2025: Mach 6 Speeds to Outpace BrahMos in Lethal Edgehttps://t.co/qlIIL3PZ9r pic.twitter.com/3j9lreRkxF

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Dhvani achieves this, allowing it to cruise at lower altitudes with dynamic aerobatics, making it challenging for enemy radars and anti-missile systems to track and target it. Its combination of scramjet technology and advanced aerodynamics also further improves energy efficiency as well as agility during its flight.

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Dhvani Hypersonic Missile: Technical Specifications

Check below technical specifications and the first planned test for the Dhvani hypersonic missile:

Advanced Capabilities & Stealth

• Size & Design: Roughly 9 meters long and 2.5 meters wide, with a blended wing-body design for maximum aerodynamics.

• Thermal Protection: Employing ultra-high-temperature ceramic composites, allowing resistance to 2,000–3,000°C on re-entry.

• Stealth Capabilities: Designed with angled edges and smooth curves to reduce radar cross-section making Dhvani essentially invisible.

• Guidance: Incorporates inertial navigation, satellite tracking, and terrain-matching guidance for accuracy even in atmospheric plasma blackouts.

• Payload: Will be designed to carry 300–500 kg warheads with conventional and nuclear capacity.

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Dhvani’s development demonstrates DRDO’s indigenous capabilities the system grew out of advancements made during the Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) project. Armed with this missile, India significantly strengthens its regional deterrence and strategic depth, especially against advanced adversaries boasting similar hypersonic weaponry. 

With the Dhvani hypersonic missile, India is all set to enter a new age of high-speed, precision-strike capability. Not only would it transcend earlier benchmarks by the BrahMos, but it also raises India's game globally on defense innovation, with the potential to reset the strategic calculus in South Asia and elsewhere.

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