A244-S

The A244-s is an Italian lightweight, fire-and-forget torpedo employed for anti-submarine warfare. It can be launched from surface vessels or aircraft and locates the target using an acoustic seeker.

Description
The torpedo uses a CIACIO-S seeker, consisting of an acoustic homing head containing the transducer assembly, transmitter, and related Beamforming circuits, and a frame housing all the remaining electronic components. The homing head is capable of active, passive, or mixed modes for closing onto its target. It can also discriminate between decoys and real targets in the presence of heavy reverberations especially emitted pulses and signal processing.

The latest version is the A244-S mod.3 torpedo, manufactured by Leonardo.

Current operators

 * - 25 ordered in 2011
 * - 540
 * - 50 (ET52 torpedo)
 * - 781
 * - 72
 * - 450 (NST58 torpedo, another derivative)
 * - 88
 * - 12
 * - 12
 * - 75
 * - 18
 * - 12
 * - 72
 * - 6 (for familiarization before delivery of MU-90)
 * - 250 Mod.1; 100 Mod.3
 * - 80
 * - 120
 * - 50
 * - ordered in 2010 for Project-58250 frigates
 * - 50 Mod.1 ordered April 1997 for 29.5 million dollars; 24 + 25 ordered in 2005 for 12 million Euros
 * - 150
 * - 150

Future operators

 * 🇧🇬 Bulgaria
 * Bulgarian Navy: In October 2022 Bulgarian government decided the purchase A244-S for the two future patrol ships of Bulgarian navy. Bulgarian Navy will receive 24 A244-S mod.3 torpedoes and supporting equipment for the price of 39.3 mln euros. The torpedoes also will be used from Bulgarian navy Eurocopter AS565 Panther helicopters. The first ship is under construction and will be commissioned in 2025.