India successfully flights tested the Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) at 1145 hours from APJ Abdul Kalam Island, previously known as Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast.

The DRDO informed that this mission would be a whole ‘Game Changer’ in anti-submarine warfare, which will be heading further another milestone in establishing the country’s maritime strategic abilities. The officials of DRDO stated that the launch and demonstration are vital in building ASW capabilities. There are few more trails to test the advanced features which will be conducted later. But the whole team is satisfied with the results.

Rajnath Singh, the defense Minister, also congratulated the DRDO and other stakeholders for this fantastic achievement via twitter- “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”.

According to the official statement, SMART is a missile supported release of lightweight anti-submarine torpedo system for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations far beyond the torpedo range. When launched from a warship or a truck-based coastal battery, SMART takes off like a regular supersonic missile. This launch and demonstration are essential in establishing anti-submarine warfare capabilities. SMART’s all mission objectives, including missile flight up to the range and altitude separation of the nose cone, the torpedo release, and deployment of velocity reduction mechanism (VRM), have met entirely.

With indigenously developed nuclear-capable hypersonic missile, ‘Shaurya,’ SMART’s flight testing ensues successful test firing. The rocket ‘Shaurya’ also had a strike range of around 1000 km from the test range.

DRDL, RCI Hyderabad, ADRDE Agra, and NSTL Visakhapatnam have developed the SMART mission’s technologies.

Article Written by Dikhya Mohanty

Image Source: Google