Indian Navy to soon get indigenous 8.5 km-range anti-submarine rockets

At present, the Indian Navy has 110 kg Russian Rocket Guided Bomb (RGB)-60 which can engage an enemy submarine at a maximum range of 5.3 km.

A Delhi Class warship of the Indian Navy (Representational picture). Photo Credit: Indian Navy Website

New Delhi: Indian Navy will soon have a new weapon to target enemy submarines. An anti-submarine rocket which can hit targets 8.5 kilometres away has been developed by the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) along with High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL).

According to The Times of India, ARDE director KM Rajan said on Sunday that the new rocket to target enemy submarines has been demonstrated to the Navy. “We have recently demonstrated a new rocket technology to the Navy, who have issued a set of qualitative requirements to be achieved during our internal trials. We will be handing over the rocket to the Navy for their user trials after achieving the target of their qualitative requirements," Rajan told The Times of India.

Faced with an ever-increasing presence of Chines Navy warships and submarines and a rapidly modernising Pakistani Navy, the Indian Navy has been trying to get better and modern offensive capabilities. The Times of India also quoted a senior Defence Research and Development Organisation, under which the ARDE and HEMRL come, that the Indian Navy requires a rocket which can target an enemy’s submarine from a distance of 8 km.

At present, the Navy has 110 kg Russian Rocket Guided Bomb (RGB)-60 which can engage an enemy submarine at a maximum range of 5.3 km. The RGB-60 has a warhead of 25 kilogrammes and is fired from the Rocketnaya Bombometnaya Ustanovka (RBU) 6000 launcher mounted on warships of the Rajput Class, Delhi Class and Talwar Class.

The Defence Ministry had on August 25, 2018, approved procurement of 111 utility helicopters for the Navy at a cost of over Rs 21,000 crore. Defence Ministry officials said the ministry cleared procurement proposals worth nearly Rs 46,000 crore which included the acquisition of the helicopters. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the ministry's highest decision-making body on procurement.