Indigenously designed and developed heavy weight torpedo (HWT) Varunastra was on June 6 successfully test-fired with a live warhead against an undersea target, by the Indian Navy.
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“Induction of Varunastra has begun after extensive trials and will become the mainstay of anti-submarine torpedo for all naval warships,” a defence source said. It will replace the older torpedoes on all naval ships that can fire HWT, the source stated.
Varunastra is a ship-launched anti-submarine torpedo having low drift navigational systems, acoustic homing, advanced acoustic counter measure features, autonomous guidance algorithms, insensitive munitions warhead and a GPS-based recovery aid for practice torpedo, according to the Defence Ministry.
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Varunastra was designed and developed by Vizag-based Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and is manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL).
According to the Defence Ministry annual report of 2015-16, the NSTL and the Indian Navy have jointly conducted a total of 130 technical trials to evaluate the weapon in all aspects of its capabilities.
“A total of 14 User trials including trials in the months of January 2015 and March 2015 with different scenarios have also been completed. Final sentencing of Varunastra UETs meeting was held in September 2015. Varunastra has been accepted by IHQ MoD (Navy) for induction into Services,” the report said.
According to BDL, the torpedo, with a maximum speed of 40 knots and a maximum operating depth of 600 m, has a long range with multi-manoeuvering capabilities and is capable of acoustic homing with a wide look angle capable of tracking silent targets. It features autonomous advanced guidance algorithms and has drift navigational systems over long endurance.