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Defence Minister Hands Over Varunastra Torpedo to Indian Navy

Published: June 2016

New Delhi. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar handed over “Varunastra – a Ship Launched Heavy Weight Torpedo” also known as underwater missile to the Indian Navy in a ceremony organised to mark the occasion in New Delhi June 29.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Parrikar congratulated DRDO for the achievement and appreciated the efforts made in this regard. He asked the DRDO to ensure its participation in the production process and to keep adequate quality control of their products so that it can meet the international standards.

The Minister also stated that in these high technology areas, DRDO’s contribution with 95 per cent of indigenous content is an apt example of Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) category.

Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) Admiral Sunil Lanba termed the occasion as momentous and described it as yet another feather in the DRDO’s cap. He applauded DRDO and Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) for rendering yeomen service to the nation in achieving self-reliance in defence and underwater technologies.

He said the Navy’s partnership with DRDO laboratories has strengthened and matured over the years. ‘The fact that three of the premier DRDO labs NPOL, NMRL and NSTL carry the prefix ‘Naval’ in their names highlights the close relationship between the Indian Navy and the DRDO in our joint efforts,’ Admiral Lanba stated.

DRDO DG Dr S Christopher in his address described the induction ceremony of Varunastra as a proud moment for the nation as India has joined in the elite group of only a handful of countries. He commented that the development of submarine launched heavy weight torpedo is in advanced stage for user trials.

Dr Christopher mentioned that Varunastra, the shipborne anti-submarine torpedo has got the goodwill of Navy as a user which has decided to produce 73 of them immediately. He briefly mentioned that last year Mareech – Advance Torpedo Defence System was handed over to Indian Navy.

He also highlighted the DRDO developed LCA – Tejas, the first Squadron of which is being raised by Indian Air Force on July 1. The AEW&C is also striding towards induction into IAF this year. Recently, another milestone has been achieved by BrahMos, a Joint Venture of DRDO which successfully demonstrated captive trials with Su-30 aircraft, he stated.

Varunastra has been developed by NSTL, a premier DRDO laboratory based at Visakhapatnam. M/s Bharat Dynamics Ltd has been associated as a production partner in concurrent engineering mode.

A versatile naval weapon Varunastra, which can be fired from the Rajput class destroyers, Delhi class and all future Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) ships capable of firing heavy weight torpedoes and is capable of targeting quiet and stealthy submarines both in deep and littoral waters even in intense countermeasure atmosphere.

The function was also attended by Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar, Secretary (Defence Production) AK Gupta, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister (SA to RM) Dr G Satheesh Reddy and senior functionaries of Ministry of Defence, Indian Navy, DRDO, Production & Industry partners.