SubROV is a tool that provides new capabilities to submarine crews, allowing them to carry out various tasks outside the submarine. The first users of the new system are the crews of the Gotland and Södermanland submarines.
Th FMV video above shows the SubROV retrieving a UUV from the seabed and bringing it back to the submarine, via the torpedo tube.
Made of a durable plastic shell, all of SubROV sub-systems (mechanical, electrical and software) have a modular and open architecture. This allows it to carry various payloads such as manipulator arms, communication buoys, sensors as well as various types of sonars depending on the mission.
According to Saab, its designer, SubROV is the ideal system to assist submarines in transitioning to their new intelligence gathering roles. It is a ROV system that is controlled and operated from the submarine. The system has its own energy system and consists of two parts, a wet part which is installed in the torpedo tube, and a dry control unit that remains inside the submarine.
The system is handled like a heavyweight torpedo, and uses the same handling equipment once it is aboard the submarine. It is launched and retrieved from a 21-inch torpedo tube. The SubROV vehicle has a length of 3.1 meters, a weight of 300 kg and a payload capacity of 10 kg. Its operational depth is 500 meters, its speed up to 3 knots, its range 10 kilometers and its endurance is 6 hours.
By sending out the SubROV from one of the submarine’s torpedo tubes, the crew can carry out various types of missions outside the submarine. One can, among other things, inspect and one can salvage other smaller vessels and bring them to the submarine while remaining hidden under the surface.
The great advantage of the system is that it is designed to be handled in the same way as a heavy torpedo aboard the submarine, which means that no modification of the existing systems on the submarine is required.
Anders Svensson, FMV’s product manager for underwater weapons and torpedo systems
