Yeah, the more you think about it, the more bullshitty it becomes as is. In the show, they cut to O'Brien working on the mines, and they are just photon torpedoes. They likely just used the default "explosive weapon" prop, but if you push the in universe lore a bit, it seems like they just invented cloaked, multiplying photon torpedoes, which would seem like a really, really awesome weapon to equip every ship in the fleet with.

Bird of prey just decloak? Fire one self replicating photon torpedo, which becomes two in flight amd they have no idea where they land. Hell, shoot far enough away and yall fire one and get 12 when they hit. Sounds like a good enhancement, USS defiant.

Even if they dont replicate in a fight, i know a delta quadrant ship that sure could use infinite photon torpedoes. It sure would simplify a few things for them to fire off 150 of the fuckers when the Kasan are headed their way.