The company’s three-year build contract will include the manufacture of a new free-swimming submarine rescue vehicle (designated SRV-F Mk 3), an intervention remotely operated vehicle (IROV), a decompression system, and the provision of training for Indonesian operators and maintainers. The full system will be hosted on a 92.5 m mother ship designed by design and engineering group Houlder; the design package will be delivered to PT BTI for build in a local shipyard.
Designed as hybrid system suitable for deployment by air, embarked on a mother ship, or towed, the SRV-F Mk 3 can dive to a depth of 500 m and is able to carry up to 50 rescuees at a time – sufficient to evacuate the entire crew of a typical conventional submarine in a single mission. According to SMP, this adoption of a “One Out, All Out” philosophy facilitates the rapid rescue of an entire crew stands in contrast to other rescue systems which require repeated trips to the distressed submarine.
When deployed by air, the the vehicle can be towed to and from the distressed submarine’s location without the need to be recovered to deck.
“This key attribute reduces the time, risk and complexity of a rescue mobilisation and also greatly increases the likelihood of a suitable support ship being available on location, saves critical time for stranded crews facing diminishing life support supplies, and avoids the integration challenges and dependencies associated with flyaway-only or mothership-only rescue systems”.
SMP
In addition to the SRV-F Mk 3 vehicle, the new mothership will be fitted with a suite of support equipment including a handling system, an advanced Transfer Under Pressure system and a dedicated decompression chamber, enabling the immediate medical attention and treatment of rescued personnel. The IROV system is being sourced by SMP through Centurion Subsea Services.
SMP has previously delivered a submarine rescue system to the Vietnamese Navy. In this case, however, the manufacture of the submarine rescue vehicle was subcontracted to a third party.
