India launched its first hypersonic vehicle capable of attaining Mach 6 (7,400 kilometers an hour) but whether it was "successful" in demonstrating a hypersonic capability is still in question.
India's new hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle was payload aboard an Agni 1 short-range ballistic missile launched earlier this week from Wheeler Island in the eastern state of Odisha.
In the official version of the launch, the Ministry of Defense said the demonstrator vehicle powered by an Indian-made scramjet engine deployed from the Agni-1 at an altitude of 30 kilometers and shot earthwards at Mach 6 on its own power.
"All the performance parameters have indicated a resounding success of the mission," the ministry said in a statement. "On this successful demonstration, the country enters into the hypersonic regime, paving the way for advanced hypersonic vehicles."
The ministry also posted a 24-second video of the launch on its website. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated the successful hypersonic test.
"The scramjet engine developed by our scientists helped the flight achieve a speed six times the speed of sound!" he tweeted. "Very few countries have such capability today."
Citing government sources, Indian news reports said the hypersonic test meant the country will have the means to develop a hypersonic missile over the next five years. They said hypersonic technology could also be used to launch satellites at a lower cost.
On the other hand, The Economic Times newspaper cast doubt on the official statement calling the maiden flight a full-blown success. The Times said despite the well-trumpeted claim of success by the Defense Research and Development Organization it "failed to demonstrate the technology."
Quoting its own government sources, the Times said "the test could not be completed to demonstrate the vehicle at hypersonic speed as the Agni 1 did not reach the desired altitude for the test." Organization scientists are looking at the technical reasons behind this failure and are studying all data.
They also said flight data has been collected and would be analyzed to validate the critical technologies. The Times said further tests were required to validate the short-duration flight of the demonstrator vehicle.
