Indian Army will receive soon the first local-made anti-submarine torpedo Varunastra. The first batch of Varunastra torpedo will enter in service onboard of Sindhu class submarines and other warships of the Indian Navy.
Indian Army will receive soon the first local-made anti-submarine torpedo Varunastra. The first batch of Varunastra torpedo will enter in service onboard of Sindhu class submarines and other warships of the Indian Navy.
Indian-made Varunastra anti-submarine torpedo. (Picture source Blog Nosint)
The Varunastra is an Indian advanced heavyweight anti-submarine torpedo, developed by Naval Science and Technological Laboratory of the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) for the Indian Navy. This torpedo has not been developed not only for use by the Indian Navy but will also be exported to other countries.
The Varunastra torpedo is powered by an electric propulsion system with multiple 250 KWs Silver Oxide Zinc (AgOZn) batteries. It can achieve speeds in excess of 40 kn (74 km/h; 46 mph), weighs around 1.25 tons and can carry 250 kg (550 lb) of a conventional warhead.
This torpedo has more than 95 percent of Indian content. Varunastra has a conformal array transducer which enables it to look at wider angles than most common torpedoes. It also has advanced autonomous guidance algorithms with low drift navigational aids, insensitive warhead which can operate in various combat scenarios. It is the only torpedo in the world to have a GPS-based locating aid. The exercise variant of Varunastra has an integrated instrumentation system for recording all the dynamic parameters of the weapon, redundancy in recovery aids in case of emergency shut down or malfunction.
The Varunastra torpedo will be carried by Kolkata class, Rajput class, and Delhi class destroyers. It will also be fitted on to Kamorta class corvettes and Talwar class frigates. The Indian Navy will also use the Varunastra torpedo onboard Sindhughosh Class submarines.
