DRDO’s NSTL Prepares For Transfer Of Technology On AI Powered Advanced Heavy, Light Weight Torpedoes

The Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is making elaborate preparations for transfer of technology on advanced versions of heavy and light weight torpedoes, reports The Hindu.

According to the report, speaking on the sidelines of a daylong Navy-Industry User Meet in connection with the diamond jubilee of the lab on Saturday (15 June), NSTL director OR Nandagopan said that they had developed the design for advanced heavy weight and light weight torpedos.

Nandagopan said that the transfer of technology (ToT) would be made in the next two to three years. He informed that the weapons equipped with self-guided systems using artificial intelligence would have higher speed and accuracy to hit the targets.

The NSTL director also said that there was good progress with regard to Mode-1 of the advanced heavy weight torpedoes.

The Navy had recently signed a contract worth Rs 1,187 crore with the Bharat Dynamics Limited to manufacture heavyweight anti-submarine torpedo Varunastra in association with NSTL.

Varunastra, developed by the NSTL, is an electrically propelled torpedo. It weighs around 1,500 kg and can travel at a speed of 74 kmph carrying a warhead of 250 kg.