India has tested a new missile-assisted torpedo delivery system off the east coast, the Defence Ministry announced on Wednesday. The next-generation delivery system is aimed at boosting the Indian Navy’s anti-submarine warfare capabilities “far beyond the conventional range of lightweight torpedo,” the statement said.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), India's main military design and development agency, successfully fired the Supersonic Missile-Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) from from a ground-based mobile launcher on Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island, off the coast of Odisha state.
The canister-based missile is able to travel up to 643 km, before releasing a torpedo into the water with a 20 km range, armed with a 50 kg warhead.
The test was performed to validate mechanisms including symmetric separation, ejection and velocity control, the Defence Ministry noted. It was the third publicly reported test of the SMART system, the previous ones being in December 2021 and October 2020, according to Indian media.
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh commented on the test, saying the system will “further enhance the strength of [the Indian] Navy.”
The development comes weeks after the test-firing of a new generation of nuclear-capable ballistic missile – Agni Prime – off the coast of the same state. The medium-range surface-to-surface missile is the latest addition to the Agni 1 to 4 series, with ranges of 700 to 3,500km
Earlier, the country also conducted a first test flight of the domestically developed Agni 5 missile equipped with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle technology, which can be aimed at enemy targets thousands of kilometers apart, making them much more difficult to defend against. The test launch was announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India is also believed to be developing large consignments of Pralay, a surface-to-surface short-range missile similar to Russia’s Iskander, which would reportedly be deployed along the borders with China and Pakistan.
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