The Supersonic Missile Assisted Release Torpedo (SMART) was successfully test fired for the first time on October 5 from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Balasore off the coast of Odisha. A supersonic missile was used to launch a torpedo against a simulated submarine as a target and the test was fully successful.. The weapon system would boost the Navy’s anti-submarine warfare capability and allow it to engage enemy submarines from far off distances.
The torpedo has been incorporated in the front sections of a missile and it carried the torpedo to the designated point and then opened it up. The range of torpedo is enhanced through many mechanisms. One of the mechanisms is a supersonic missile assisted release of the torpedo, that is how it is called SMART. The missile flies to a designated point over water, before releasing its torpedo.
When launched from a warship or a truck-based coastal battery, SMART reportedly takes off like a regular supersonic missile, covering most of its flight in the air at lower altitudes with two-way data link from the warship or an airborne submarine target detection system. Notably, it provides the exact location of the hostile submarine to correct its flight path midway. When it approaches close enough to the submerged submarine, the missile will eject the torpedo system into the water and the autonomous torpedo will start moving towards its target to take out the submarine.
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“All these operations have very successfully functioned in the very first attempt itself. So, this enhances the capability of the Indian Navy once the system gets fully proven and inducted into the armed forces. The Navy’s capability to engage submarines at far of distances is also feasible,” Dr G Satheeesh Reddy, Chairman DRDO said.
DRDO’s SMART missile could be trump card against China’s submarines. SMART has been a seemingly ‘mysterious’ project for the DRDO with few details available on what the system was, unlike the programme to build ballistic missiles or a stealth fighter.
One of the first details of what SMART is came from the ministry of defence’s annual report for 2018 to 2019. In the report, the ministry of defence noted, “DRDO has taken up a project to develop and demonstrate a missile-assisted release of light weight anti-submarine torpedo system for ASW operations far beyond torpedo range (50-650 km).” The ministry of defence also noted that ejection trials had been conducted with a Torpedo Advanced Light (TAL), an indigenously developed torpedo, which is also called the Shyena.
Anti-submarine warfare
Surface warships, particularly in western navies, have typically carried light-weight torpedoes as their primary weapon for anti-submarine warfare as heavy-weight torpedoes are significantly larger in diameter, meaning fewer can be carried.
However, light-weight torpedoes also have shorter range. For example, the Shyena is estimated to have a range of around 20km. The short range of light-weight torpedoes makes them, effectively, defensive weapons against enemy submarines.
This would pose a significant disadvantage particularly if an enemy has a large number of submarines, in particular, nuclear-powered vessels that have much higher submerged speed than conventional diesel-electric submarines.
Rocket-assisted torpedoes are not new, per se; both the US Navy and the Soviet Union developed rocket-assisted torpedoes. For example, the US Navy still operates the ASROC (Anti-Submarine Rocket), a rocket-propelled torpedo system that was first designed in the 1950s.
Current versions of the ASROC in service with the US Navy are estimated to have a range of over 25km and travel at subsonic speed before releasing the torpedo. China has also been developing and deploying rocket-assisted torpedo systems for decades.
SMART, on paper, would be a quantum leap for the Indian Navy’s anti-submarine warfare capabilities, given the very-long range that DRDO has specified and its supersonic speed. The Indian Navy would need to modernise and expand its range of ship-borne and airborne anti-submarine surveillance and detection capabilities to take full advantage of the SMART missile.
The development of the SMART missile comes as China continues its near-relentless development of both nuclear-powered and conventional submarines. SMART could turn out to be a major factor in how India will counter China’s submarine menace.
A number of DRDO laboratories including 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.
Anti-submarine warfare assets consist of deployment of submarines, specialised anti-submarine ships, air assets and state-of-the-art reconnaissance and detection mechanisms. The Navy’s anti-submarine warfare capability got a boost in June after the conclusion of a contract for Advanced Torpedo Decoy System Maareech, capable of being fired from all frontline warships. India has been indigenously developing and building several anti-submarine systems and vessels in the recent past.
