Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level : Varunastra torpedoes
Mains level : Modernising Indian Navy
- Indian Navy and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) have signed a contract recently worth for supply of heavyweight torpedo Varunastra to Indian Navy.
Varunastra
- Varunastra was basically a ship-launched, electrically-propelled underwater weapon equipped with one of the most advanced automatic and remote-controlled guidance systems.
- The weapon system uses its own intelligence in tracing the target. It is the only torpedo in the world to have a GPS-based locating aid.
- It is seven to eight metres long, weighs 1,500 kg and has a diameter of 533 mm.
- The anti-submarine electric torpedo when fired can travel at 40 knots, or 74 kmph.
- The operational range is 40 km and it can carry a warhead weighing 250 kg.
- The weapon has been jointly developed by the Naval Science and Technology Laboratory (NTSL), Visakhapatnam and the Bharat Dynamics Limited -BDL (Hyderabad).