Sailors aboard the Italian Navy’s Horizon-class air-defence destroyer Andrea Doria launched their first MU90 torpedo in the Gulf of Taranto, May 24, 2016.
During the exercise, a fictional sonar contact is included on the combat system management computer (CMS). Once the contact appears, the weapon system orders the torpedo to launch and fire.
The torpedo is fired into the sea from a launch tube with a jet of compressed air and, once at sea, begins its run toward the target.
A recording device, put inside the torpedo for exercise-purposes, records all operation parameters and allows the navy to assess the effectiveness of the launch.
The MU90 is a lightweight torpedo manufactured by EuroTorp, a consortium of French and Italian defense companies.
The torpedo is currently in use with the navies of France, Italy, Germany, Denmark Poland and accepted by the commonwealth of Australia.
According to EuroTorp, the weapon has been designed to counter any type of nuclear or conventional submarine, whether it is acoustically coated, deep and fast-evasive, deploying active or passive anti-torpedo effectors. It can be deployed by any type of platform such as vessels, fixed and rotary wing aircraft, submarines, missile and continental shelf mine.