India develops and tests Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) system

Amid the tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), India on Monday (September 10) successfully tested a Hybrid weapon system ‘Supersonic Missile assisted release of Torpedo’ (SMART) on Monday.

“The @DRDO_India has successfully flight tested the Supersonic Missile assisted release of Torpedo, SMART. This will be a major technology breakthrough for stand-off capability in anti-submarine warfare. I congratulate DRDO and other stakeholders for this significant achievement,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted.

In a press release by the DRDO reads, Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) has been successfully flight tested today 5th Oct 2020 at 1145 hrs from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha. All the mission objectives including missile flight upto the range and altitude, separation of the nose cone, release of Torpedo and deployment of Velocity Reduction Mechanism (VRM) have been met perfectly. The tracking stations (Radars, Electro Optical Systems) along the coast and the telemetry stations including down range ships monitored all the events.

SMART is a missile assisted release of lightweight Anti-Submarine Torpedo System for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) operations far beyond Torpedo range.This launch and demonstration is significant in establishing Anti-Submarine warfare capabilities.

A weapon system is called a Hybrid when two-weapon capabilities are joined to make one weapon. This synergy of systems vastly expands the range and speed of a weapon system.

SMART is a cutting edge development in the weapons platform developed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO). This is a supersonic anti-ship missile with a medium-weight torpedo as its payload.

This new supersonic anti-submarine missile will be the most dangerous submarine hunter in the high seas. The new missile will be a force multiplier with a range of around 350 nautical miles (which is about 650 kilometres). Once the enemy submarine has been located it can now be easily targetted from an unimaginable distance.