India completes flight test of anti-submarine warfare system SMART

The Indian Ministry of Defence has announced that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully flight tested the anti-submarine warfare system Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART).

The test was carried out from Wheeler Island, which is located off the coast of the Indian state of Odisha.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in a tweet: “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.”

In a statement, the ministry stated that the missile met all the objectives, such as missile flight up to the range and altitude, separation of the nose cone, release of torpedo, and deployment of velocity reduction mechanism (VRM).

All events were monitored by the tracking stations, including radars, electro optical systems along the coast, and the telemetry stations, such as down range ships.

SMART is a missile assisted release of lightweight Anti-Submarine Torpedo System for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations that are beyond the range of torpedo.

The latest launch is said to be a major milestone in the establishment of ASW capabilities.

The technologies needed for SMART were developed by many DRDO laboratories including DRDL, RCI Hyderabad, ADRDE Agra, NSTL Visakhapatnam.

DRDO Chairman Satheesh Reddy stated that SMART is a game changer technology demonstration in the ASW.

Last month, the Ministry of Defence announced the start of construction on the Indian Navy’s third ship (Yard- 12653) under the P17A class stealth frigates.