06 June 2023
by Shaurav Gairola
India's Varunastra torpedo has undergone ‘combat' test-firings, with the weapon fitted with a high-explosive warhead, for the first time. (Bharat Dynamics Limited)
The Indian Navy and the country's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) undertook the first ‘combat' test-firing of the Varunastra heavyweight torpedo on 5 June.
Janes understands that the torpedo was fired from a Kamorta (Project 28)-class anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvette at an Under Water Target System (UWTS) laid by INS Jalashwa (ex-USS Trenton), a refurbished Austin-class landing platform dock, in the Bay of Bengal off the eastern coast of India. The test was regarded a success by the Indian Navy and DRDO.
Built by Bharat Dynamics, Varunastra was developed from the mid-2000s and inducted into the Indian Navy in 2016. However, earlier the Varunastra torpedo had only been test-fired with dummy warheads. The new combat firing exercise is the first time the weapon was tested with a live warhead filled with high explosive (HE).
During the combat test-firing, the depth at which the indigenously designed and produced UWTS was laid is not known. However, the maximum operating depth of the Varunastra torpedo is 600 m.
Varunastra is a wire-guided, 533 mm, ship-launched anti-submarine torpedo developed by the DRDO's Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL). The electrically propelled torpedo has active-passive guidance and is fitted with 250 kg of HE. The torpedo has two selectable speed modes of 27 kt and 40 kt, aligned with a maximum range of 20 km.
Already a Janes subscriber? Read the full article via the
Client Login
Interested in subscribing, see What we do
The Indian Navy and the country's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) undertook the...