Platform profile · India · Ship-launched heavyweight anti-submarine torpedo · Indian Navy
Varunastra Heavy Weight Torpedo (HWT)
OngoingInducted 2016 and in service; DAC accorded AoN for additional combat torpedoes on 2025-03-20 after the previous production order completed in March 2024.
On 20 March 2025, the Defence Acquisition Council accorded Acceptance of Necessity for additional combat Varunastra torpedoes for the Indian Navy; no later contract or delivery was identified in the official record or in a deliberate July 2025-July 2026 sweep. BDL had completed the Navy's then-current order by flagging off its last torpedo at Visakhapatnam on 29 March 2024, after the weapon's first live-high-explosive combat firing in June 2023. Developed by DRDO's Naval Science and Technological Laboratory from the mid-2000s and inducted on 29 June 2016, Varunastra is a 533.4 mm ship-launched, electrically propelled heavyweight anti-submarine torpedo produced by Bharat Dynamics Limited. BDL lists 27- and 40-knot speed modes and an 8-600 m operating-depth envelope, alongside wide-look-angle acoustic homing, acoustic counter-countermeasures and autonomous guidance. It gives Indian surface combatants a domestically developed weapon against quiet submarines in both deep and littoral waters, strengthening India's undersea-warfare self-reliance.
Updated 20 Mar 2025
Verified figures
Specifications
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Application | Ship-launched heavyweight anti-submarine torpedo for submarines in shallow and deep waters ↗ |
| Length | 7.780 m ↗ |
| Diameter | 533.4 mm ↗ |
| Speed modes | 27 and 40 knots ↗ |
| Operating depth | 8-600 m ↗ |
| Propulsion | Contrarotating propellers ↗ |
| Exercise-version weight | 1,605 +/- 10 kg ↗ |
| Combat-version weight | 1,850 +/- 10 kg ↗ |
| Homing | Acoustic homing with a wide look angle for tracking silent targets ↗ |
| Counter-countermeasures | Acoustic counter-countermeasure features and multiple-signal tracking ↗ |
| Guidance and navigation | Autonomous advanced guidance algorithms and low-drift navigation over long endurance ↗ |
Spec sources: bdl-india.in ↗
Changelog
Program timeline
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The Defence Acquisition Council accorded Acceptance of Necessity for the Indian Navy to procure additional Varunastra Torpedoes (Combat); the approval was part of eight capital-acquisition proposals worth more than Rs 54,000 crore in total.
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BDL flagged off the last Varunastra under the Indian Navy's then-current order from its Visakhapatnam unit in the presence of representatives from naval headquarters, Eastern Naval Command, NSTL, NAD and NAI.
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The Indian Navy and DRDO conducted Varunastra's first combat firing with a live high-explosive warhead, launching it from a Kamorta-class corvette against an Under Water Target System laid by INS Jalashwa in the Bay of Bengal; the test was successful.
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The first production Varunastra manufactured by BDL left the company's Visakhapatnam factory for delivery to the Indian Navy.
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BDL and the Ministry of Defence signed a Rs 1,187 crore Varunastra manufacturing contract in New Delhi, with production assigned to BDL's Visakhapatnam unit in collaboration with DRDO.
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NSTL and BDL signed a Licensing Agreement for Transfer of Technology at DefExpo 2018 in Chennai for the production of Varunastra; BDL had established a dedicated underwater-weapons manufacturing unit at Visakhapatnam.
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Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar handed the ship-launched Varunastra to the Indian Navy at its induction ceremony; the Navy said it would produce 73 weapons immediately, with BDL as production partner and 95% indigenous content.
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The Indian Navy and DRDO recovered a development Varunastra from the seabed about 35 km off Visakhapatnam after it was lost during successful November 2014 user-evaluation trials.
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