Aircraft program
Unmanned, Mach 5, reusable launch vehicle to help develop hypersonic flight, autonmous landing, air-breathing engine propulsion and powered cruise flight technologies, and lower launch costs. Initial research and engine development conducted with Advanced Technology Vehicle modified sounding rocket (ATV-D Series). Planned test flights: HEX - Hypersonic Flight Experiment (completed, 2016), LEX - Landing Experiment (completed, 2023-2024), OREX - Orbital Return Flight Experiment, and SPEX - Scramjet Propulsion Experiment. In development.
The aircraft as engineered: what it is built from, the systems it flies with, and its configuration — each box a theme.
Technical reference compiled with AI research; a value appears only where two independent research passes and a web fact-check agree. Gaps are deliberate.
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Subscribe| Variant | Launch / first flight | Production end | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISRO RLV-TD | 2012 / 2016 | Reusable Launch Vehicle – Technology Demonstrator, scaled down prototype of two-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle (with second stage as spaceplane), also known as Pushpak. HEX flight completed with expendable solid booster HS9, and released from a Chinook for LEX flights. |
| Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) | News |
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