NATO Submarine Rescue System

The NATO Submarine Rescue System ( to German: NATO submarine rescue system ), NSRs short, a comprehensive system for the rescue of sunken submarines, which manned and unmanned rescue submarines and supporting technology is included. The entire system is air transportable. Although the name suggests that it is a system of NATO, it is actually merely a tri-national projects of France, Great Britain and Norway.

General

The NSRs is a project of the NATO countries France, the UK and Norway, which replaces the pure British submarines LR5 and ROV Scorpio. Went into service in mid-2008 and is intended to be the beginning of a planned service life of 25 years. If necessary, could the NSRs and that of Italy and the United States - also NATO members - national -powered systems around the world each submarine zuhilfe rush that has locks, which correspond to the NATO standards. The 290 -ton NSRs is fully transportable for this purpose in containers, which with the Boeing C-17 of the Royal Air Force and - unlike his predecessor - even with the future Airbus A400M, which is procured, among others, France and the UK, air-transportable. A part of the components can be transported with the lower C-130. Alternatively, the system can also be transported by 23 trucks or ships to the site. For the actual use of a so-called mothership ( in military jargon Mothership, short MOSHIP ) is needed which takes the system on board. For this purpose, operate the Norwegian Navy with the KV Harstad and the French Navy with the Argonaute ever a ship that was designed specifically for accommodating the NSRs and can thus act as a dedicated submarine rescue ship. In addition, each vessel has a deck area of ​​at least 400 m2 with a minimum payload of 2.5 tonnes per m2, also record the NSRs. Worldwide, there are approximately 2,200 ships that meet these requirements and are to be recorded as completely as possible in a database. In addition to some special military vessels mainly include offshore support vessels to do so. This is intended to standby anywhere in the world can be created within 72 hours after arrival of the use command. Stationed is the complete system in the British submarine base at Faslane -on- Clyde on the west coast of Scotland.

In order to ensure a rescue under all known circumstances, are four distinct systems: A manned rescue submarine, a system for recording the boat on board vessels, an underwater robot and a decompression system.

Components

Submarine Rescue Vehicle ( SRV)

The SRV is a manned rescue submarine, which ( sunken Submarine ) in a so-called SUBSUNK scenario for the evacuation of the crew of a sunken submarine ( called Disstressed Submarine, shortly DISSUB ) serves. The SRV from Perry Slingsby Systems Ltd UK companies ( PSSL ) developed is made from a single piece of high strength steel of the variety NQ -1, a maximum depth of 610 m allowed - around 50 % more than were possible with the LR5. The crew consists of three people; Pilot, co- pilot and rescue chamber operator ( Rescue Chamber Operator). The rescue chamber holds up to 15 other people, with a pressure of up to 6 can be maintained in cash. This is to prevent the rescued are not suddenly exposed after the high pressure in the DISSUB a much lower pressure. Docking at the DISSUB may be at a deviation from the vertical of up to 60 °. The equipment of the SRV include a Unterwassertelephon, communication cable and glass fiber respirators. An optimal perspective to allow for a large acrylic dome at the bow. The drive of the U- boat is via two 25 kW (33 hp) electric motors and four small electric motors for exact positioning. The required energy is provided by sodium-nickel chloride batteries type ZEBRA by Rolls -Royce, which allow under normal conditions, an endurance of 12 hours, in an emergency but should be enough for up to 96 h. The SRV was delivered in October 2007.

Portable Launch and Recovery System ( Plars )

When Plars is a system which allows the SNR up to sea state 6 from MOSHIP suspend and also take on board again. The Plars is air-transportable in the C-130 and can be mounted on different ships. The core element of the system is a crane, which has a load of up to 30 tonnes - can lift - which corresponds to the weight of the SRV.

Intervention Remotely Operated Vehicle ( irov )

The irov is an unmanned submarine, which may be used for a variety of tasks. These include the exact locations of the DISSUB that providing it with basic necessities (water, food, medicines ) when an evacuation can not be done immediately, the detection allfällig leaked radioactivity as well as freeing a submarine that has verhedert itself (eg in a fishing net ) and not on their own free will. The irov based on the Triton SP, which is used in the off-shore oil production. Is produced by the same manufacturer as the irov the SRV, PSSL. Due to the small size, light weight and the modest degree of necessary additional equipment, irov can clearly begin its work before the SRV on site. The payload of up to 150 kg can, among others, cable cutter, include up to eight cameras, sonar and lamps up to a power of 2 kW. In order to use the irov, is a private, independent from Plars, system.

Transfer Under Pressure ( TUP ) System

The TUP is used for decompression, that is, slow habituation to the usual pressure of about 1 bar at the surface. For this purpose there are two decompression chambers with a capacity of up to 68 persons are available, which can be placed under a pressure of up to 6 bar. These are complemented by two small Two People chambers, which are intended for individual medical treatment. Although all components of the TUP together have a total weight of about 120 tons, it is broken down air-transportable.