India To Test Fire Home-Made Torpedo From Russian EKM Class Submarine

India has decided to test domestically developed heavyweight torpedo Varunastra from Russian EKM class submarines.

India’s anti-submarine torpedo will be going on trial from INS Sindhughosh submarine soon, Sputnik news reported today.

India has offered this underwater missile to Vietnam and hopes for large orders from several other naval forces around the world.

The anti-submarine will be going into production phase, said Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO).

The 7.6 meter long Varunastra contains 95% indigenous content which can travel at speeds of around 38 KT.  A versatile naval weapon Varunastra has a strike range of 20 Kilometer.

Varunastra can be fired from the Rajput class destroyers, Delhi class and all future Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) ships that are capable of firing heavy weight torpedoes.

The weapon is capable of targeting quiet and stealthy submarines both in deep and littoral waters even in intense countermeasure atmosphere. DRDO also claimed that anti-submarine torpedo has GPS based locating aid.

Indian Navy had ordered 73 of the 1,500 kg wire-guided torpedoes for $132 million, which will be manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) in Hyderabad.

The Varunastra is an Indian advanced heavyweight anti-submarine torpedo, developed by Naval Science and Technological Laboratory of the DRDO for the Indian Navy.

The ship launched variant of Varunastra torpedo was formally inducted in the Indian navy by India's defence minister Manohar Parrikar on 26 June 2016. The minister in his speech said that the government is in favor of exporting the torpedo to friendly nations including Vietnam.