Swedish defense contractor Saab announced it has worked with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) and Swedish Armed Forces to carry out the first tests of its lightweight torpedo from a corvette and a submarine.
The tests are the first of its kind for the new torpedo and were undertaken during February and March 2020 at sea ranges outside Karlskrona in the Baltic Sea.
The tests were conducted from a Gotland-class submarine HSwMS Gotland and from a Visby-class corvette. The purpose of the firings was to verify that the torpedo can be safely launched from the vessels, which also included verification of the integration on the vessels as well as the torpedo’s target seeker.
The development of the torpedo started with an order from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) in 2016. The torpedo will be used by Sweden’s submarine and corvette fleet.
In addition to Sweden, the torpedo will be used by the Finnish Navy, which placed an order for the torpedo in January 2018 as a part of the Squadron 2000 mid-life upgrade program. The Finnish Navy will operate the system on-board the upgraded Hamina-class vessels as well as the new Pohjanmaa-class corvettes of the Squadron 2020 Programme.
Saab says the torpedo is unique in the way that it is adapted for difficult littoral underwater conditions such as those found in the Baltic Sea while also being designed for operations in deeper seas. It features a digital homing system, which offers both fire-and-forget and wire-guided operation to pursue the target.
