The Netherlands’ Material and IT Command (COMMIT), the Dutch MoD’s procurement arm, has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to industry to look for new SDV (Submersible Delivery Vehicles) currently available on the market. An official tender would follow the RFI phase. The SDVs would be procured for the Netherlands Maritime Special Operations Forces (NLMARSOF) unit.
Currently, the NLMARSOF uses DPDs (Diving Propulsion Devices) from the U.S. company STIDD which are operated from land, ships, as well as from the Walrus-class submarines. For the SDVs, they use JFD Shadow Seal SDV in 4 pax version, a derivative of the Ortega MK1 design from the Dutch company Ortega Submersibles BV. This company was acquired by JFD, UK-based SDV manufacturer, in 2019.
The requirements regarding the SDV are the following: the platform should be able to host a minimum of 4 divers and a maximum of 8 with all their diving kit and additional equipment. For the internal rebreathers system capacity, the SDV must be equipped with tanks capable of delivering “240 minutes of air per person”.
About the technical specifications, the COMMIT is looking for a SDV with an extended range ability: “the minimal range of the vessel on the surface must be 80nm and submerged 25nm”, and a capability to operate up to sea state 4 in all type of environment temperature: “+50ºC till -15ºC and a seawater temperature from +35ºC tot -2 ºC”. For the speed, on the surface, it must achieve at least 30 knots and a minimum of 5 knots when submerged. For its regular operating depth, the platform should be certified for 30 meters-depth meaning the actual certification requires a more important depth as a large margin is necessary for safety reasons.
A great attention is paid to stealth as the RFI highlights this point several times: “When submerged, the acoustic sound level of the vessel should be as silent as possible”.
For now, nothing suggest the Royal Netherlands Navy is looking for a system able to be hosted on submarines, however this can not be ruled out. Indeed the future Orka-class will be larger compared to the in-service Walrus-class submarines, opening new opportunities and the Dutch have great expertise in deploying special forces from submarines.
In this RFI, the Navy’s desire to acquire an SDV system capable of both surface and underwater navigation eliminates a number of potential candidates. Indeed, all SDVs similar to the Shallow Water Combat Submersible (SWCS), also known as the Mark 11 SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV Mk 11) seem to be out of the running leaving few potential candidates: SubSea Craft’s Victa, JFD’s Carrier Seal or more Shadow Seals…
This plan to renew the diving systems is an overall plan for the Dutch frogmen, as the Navy seeks to acquire new capabilities and replace or at least complement all current diving devices, including smaller systems such as DPDs.
In addition to these specifications and general matters from the RFI, Naval News was able to learn the number of platforms wanted. The Royal Netherlands Navy is looking for three new SDVs which they could deploy from their LPDs and nine DPDs, deployable from their submarines.
This replacement plan comes also at a time when its close neighbor is also looking for such capabilities. Indeed, Naval News learned that the Belgian Navy is also exploring different options including SDVs to expand the capabilities of its combat divers.
