JFD has broken several records during a series of trials of submarine rescue systems in the Indian Ocean.
This means that the JFD-built system is now ready to mobilise from the naval base at Mumbai and provide rapid rescue to submarines in distress.
Working in partnership with the Indian Navy, which in March accepted delivery from JFD of the first of two free-swimming submarine rescue vehicles, JFD’s team oversaw and helped achieve the deepest submarine rescue dive at 666 metres; the deepest submarine hatch opening at 655 metres; and the deepest JFD remotely operated vehicle dive at 750 metres.
This means that JFD can safely rescue submariners at depths that were once considered unattainable.
The records came during final testing of the submarine rescue system’s capability in challenging conditions off the coast of Mumbai, which included a mock rescue from a disabled submarine on the ocean floor.
After finding and then attaching to the submarine, JFD and the Indian Navy carried out a safe transfer of personnel from the submarine to the rescue vehicle.
“The system was tested in particularly challenging conditions, not unlike those you would see in Australia,” JFD Australia managing director Toff Idrus said.
“It is a similar capability to the one JFD provides to the RAN from our advanced manufacturing base at Bibra Lake, in Perth and as we prepare for the annual Black Carillon ocean exercises off the West Australian coast in early November where similar scenarios will be conducted, it gives us great confidence.
“It also shows the importance of having a free-swimming vehicle with a pilot which is able to find and move rapidly into a rescue operation.