New Delhi: India successfully tested a long-range Supersonic Missile Assisted Torpedo (SMART) on Monday off the coast of Balasore in Odisha. The full range capability of the missile was successfully demonstrated during the test, which was carried out in Wheeler Island in Odisha, reports said.
SMART is a next-generation missile-based standoff torpedo delivery system. Weapons launched at distances from the target that are long enough to avoid defensive fire from the target area are called standoff missiles. Torpedo delivery systems are underwater ranged weapons launched above or below the water surface.
“The system has been designed to enhance Anti-sub marine warfare capability far beyond the conventional range of the torpedo,” news agency ANI quoted the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as saying. Defence officials said the weapon system is being developed by DRDO for the Indian Navy.
An electro-optic telemetry system, and various radars including the downrange instrumentation and downrange ships, monitored the entire trajectory of the textbook launch. The launch and demonstration are significant in establishing Anti-Submarine Warfare capabilities, and the missile was equipped with a torpedo, parachute delivery system and release mechanisms, reports said.
SMART makes use of advanced technologies like two-stage solid propulsion, electro-mechanical actuators and precision inertial navigation, which is a self-contained navigation technique in which measurements are used to track the position and orientation of an object relative to a known parameters. Launched from a ground mobile launcher, the missile can cover a long range of distances.
A number of DRDO laboratories including DRDL, RCI Hyderabad, ADRDE Agra, and NSTL Visakhapatnam have developed various technologies required for the advanced missile system. DRDO said that all the mission objectives including missile flight up to the range and altitude, separation of the nose cone, release of Torpedo and deployment of Velocity Reduction Mechanism (VRM) have been perfectly met, as per reports.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO scientists and other stakeholders for this achievement.
Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Chairman of DRDO, said that SMART is a game changer technology demonstration in Anti-Submarine Warfare, according to reports.