Sweden buys new lightweight torpedo launchers

Saab announced on 24 May that it has obtained a SEK150 million ($15.32 million) order from the Swedish defence procurement agency FMV to produce a new tube for firing lightweight torpedoes from surface vessels.

‘Deliveries will take place during 2023,’ Saab stated, adding that the FMV has the option to increase the volume of the order.

The new torpedo tube, to be designated Tub m/20, will replace a legacy system aboard Swedish Navy corvettes in the Stockholm, Göteborg and Visby classes.

Tub m/20 is designed to ‘enhance and future proof Sweden’s capability for operating lightweight torpedoes from surface ships’, according to Niclas Kolmodin, head of the Underwater Systems business unit at Saab.

In particular, the new torpedo tube will carry a larger payload and will be easier to load and unload. Saab designed the launch system to provide higher availability and to enable surveillance of the tube from a naval C2 centre.

The company was prompted to design Tub m/20 after Finland ordered the Torped 47 lightweight torpedo for the four new Pohjanmaa-class corvettes.

Related Equipment in Defence Insight

Visby Class

Stockholm Class

Göteborg/Gävle Class