In a major boost for the armed forces, India on Monday successfully tested a long-range Supersonic Missile Assisted Torpedo (SMART) off the coast of Balasore in Odisha. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Navy today successfully tested the missile.
SMART is a missile assisted release of lightweight Anti-Submarine Torpedo System for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) operations far beyond Torpedo range. The launch and demonstration is significant in establishing anti-submarine warfare capabilities.
The weapon system is being developed by DRDO for the Indian Navy, defence officials said.
“The system has been designed to enhance anti-sub marine warfare capability far beyond the conventional range of the torpedo,” DRDO said.
The Supersonic Missile Assisted Release Torpedo weapon system would boost the Navy’s anti-submarine warfare capability and allow it to engage enemy submarines from far off distances.
On October 5, 2020, the SMART weapon system was successfully test-fired for the first time where a supersonic missile was used to launch a torpedo against a simulated submarine as a target.
“All the mission objectives including missile flight upto the range and altitude, separation of the nose cone, release of Torpedo and deployment of Velocity Reduction Mechanism (VRM) have been met perfectly,” the ministry of defence had stated in its statement after the successful rest.
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chairman Dr G Satheesh Reddy had said that SMART is a game changer technology demonstration in the anti-submarine warfare.
