The
Russian Navy is expected to adopt for service the advanced Futlyar deep-water
torpedo that is undergoing its official tests now, a source in defense
industry has told TASS. According to the source, the Futlyar is an upgraded
variant of the Fizik homing torpedo that has entered service recently. |
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"The
new variant of the torpedo is in the official trials at Lake Issyk-Kul
in Kyrgyzstan, which are due for completion later in the year. If the
torpedo passes the tests, it will enter service and its full-scale production
is to begin in 2017," the source said.
According to him, the sophisticated torpedo will be of heat-seeking
design like the baseline model is, but it will retain the ability to
be controlled from the submarine. "The Futlyar also will be given
an improved homing system with an extended underwater target lock-on
range. It will retain the baseline model’s range, speed and maximum
launch depth - 50 km, over 50 knots and 400 m respectively," the
source said.
He stressed that the Futlyar would equip the Project 955A Borei-A (NATO
reporting name: Dolgorukiy-class), Project 885 Yasen-class (Severodvinsk-class)
and Project 885M Yasen-M in the first place. With the beginning of the
Futlyar’s full-rate production, the production of the Fizik torpedo
will be discontinued. The Futlyar has been developed by the St. Petersburg
Research Institute of Marine Hardware and the Dagdizel plant will handle
its production.
An official confirmation of the above information is unavailable to
TASS at the moment.
In April last year, another source in defense industry told TASS about
the service entry and launch of the production of the Fizik torpedo
designed to replace the obsolescent USET-80 developed in the 1980s.
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