Kathmandu. In the midst of a tense stand-off at the Line of Actual Contol (LAC) with China, India’s Defense Ministry has claimed that it has successfully tested the weapons system termed as SMART, or Supersonic Missile-Assisted Release of Torpedo, from its test facility situated in the coast of Odisha. The missile can carry lightweight torpedoes and has a range of 400 miles to attack an enemy submarine in a situation of combat. Seemingly, none of the missiles employed by other nations like the United States of America, Russia or Japan have a range that can extend as far.

The idea of the development of the technology was published by the Ministry in a  2018-2019 annual report. It had stated that “DRDO has taken up a project to develop and demonstrate a missile assisted release of light weight anti-submarine torpedo system for ASW operations far beyond torpedo range (50-650 km).” Rajnath Singh, the Minister of Defense had tweeted after the successful testing, mentioning that this could “be a major technology breakthrough” for the country. The state’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) in a press release noted that the test conducted on October 5 was entirely successful, and that the demonstration was essential in building the nation’s “Anti-Submarine warfare capabilities.”

New Delhi has signed several arms deals and has also conducted numerous weapons tests since the first shots were fired at the LAC, 45 years after the Sino-Indian War in the sixties. The bilateral relations between China and India have cooled as mistrust and mutual apathy has been the general guidelines towards any significant efforts of disengagement.

As Chinese influence grows in the maritime region with a noticeable increase in the capability of its submarine forces , certain reports have highlighted the edge India can have with an advanced weapons system in the event of a conflict . The Indian government has also approved the deployment of the surface-to-surface supersonic Shaurya missile to the LAC.