JFD’s submarine rescue system licenced

A new submarine rescue system developed by JFD has received operational licence from the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian government, JFD announced on 3 July.

The new £11.05 million system will be able to treat up to 88 crew members of an Australian submarine at once. The hyperbaric equipment suite includes a pressurised transfer chamber and a recompression treatment suite.

The suite is able to sustain and operate effectively in rough, continuous seas with swells of 5m. This capability is critically important as the new kit is the final step in a submarine rescue which begins with rescuing the crew from a disabled submarine and transferring them safely into a JFD free-swimming, piloted rescue vehicle which carries them safely to the surface and on to the deck of a rescue ship.

Once rescued, the submariners are moved through the transfer under pressure chamber and into the hyperbaric equipment suite with doctors monitoring their wellbeing and helping them for further recovery.

The new equipment will now undergo further naval testing and evaluation in August and during the annual Black Carillion naval exercises in November 2018.