India successfully conducted the flight test of a Supersonic Missile-Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) system on October 6, 2020 from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha. All mission objectives, including the missile’s flight up to the designated range and altitude, separation of its nose cone, release of the torpedo, and deployment of Velocity Reduction Mechanism (VRM), were met perfectly. An anti-submarine torpedo of the lightweight category was used.
SMART system
The SMART system comprises a mechanism by which the torpedo is launched from a supersonic missile system with modifications that would take the torpedo to a far longer range than its own (torpedoes are limited by their range). For example, SMART would enable a torpedo with a range of a few kilometres to be sent almost 1,000 km away by the missile system from where the torpedo is launched. Torpedoes are self-propelled weapons that travel underwater to hit a target.
Various DRDO laboratories such as Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) and Research Centre Imarat (RCI), both in Hyderabad; Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE) in Agra; and Naval Science and Technology Laboratory (NSTL) Visakhapatnam have developed the technologies required for SMART.
Significance of SMART
SMART is a game-changing technology demonstration in anti-submarine warfare, especially in the wake of China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean region.
Assets of such warfare consist of deployment of submarines, specialised anti-submarine ships, air assets, and state-of-the-art reconnaissance and detection mechanisms. The capability of launching nuclear weapons from submarine platforms has immense strategic importance in light of the ‘no first use’ policy of India. These submarines can not only survive a first strike by an opponent but can also launch a strike in retaliation. The nuclear-powered Arihant submarine, for instance, is capable of launching missiles with nuclear warheads.
Courtesy: The Indian Express