Indian Navy to get indigenously made torpedo soon
The first fully indigenous torpedo Varunastra will begin to be received by the Indian Navy within four months. Varunastra, capable of destroying any submarine up to 40 km, attacks at a speed of 74 km per hour. This indigenous torpedo will equip Indian warships and Indus class submarines.
The Navy has ordered 63 such torpedoes for 1187 crore rupees which will have both torpedoes to be fired from the ship and submarine. Torpedoes are the most accurate weapon to destroy a submarine or ship.
One and a half ton torpedo
The weight of Varunastra will be about one and a half tons. It will have a 250 kg warhead, which will be highly explosive. The transducers in it give it a much larger angle of attack, so that it can attack any submarine from the top or bottom. It has GPS locating aid, which helps in making it a precise target.
In addition to Kolkata class, Rajput class and Delhi class destroyers, Varunastra will also be deployed in commuter class Kamorta and Talwar class frigates. It will also be installed in the submarine of the Indus class, the backbone of the Indian Navy’s Submarine fleet.
Use of torpedoes purchased from abroad
Till now, the Indian Navy was using torpedoes bought from abroad. The weakest link in the Indian Navy is its submarine fleet. The Indian Navy has 9 Indus Class, 4 Shishumar Class Submarines, besides nuclear submarine INS Chakra taken on lease from Russia.
Navy has 18 submarines
Indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant and indigenous conventional submarine INS Kalwari and Khanderi have also joined the navy, but the Indian Navy’s submarine’s fleet of 18 vessels rank much lower than the Chinese submarine of over 70. In this case, the torpedo is the most reliable weapon to compete against the enemy submarine.
