India acquires two submarine rescue systems

The Indian Navy has awarded the British provider of marine engineering services James Fisher and Sons a £193 million (approx $273M) contract for the delivery of two submarine rescue and escape systems.

The contract will see James Fisher Defence, a subsidiary of James Fisher and Sons, design and produce two submarine rescue systems for £83 million by December 2018 which will be assembled and produced at JFD’s Inchinnan facility, near Glasgow, UK.

James Fisher said that a 25 year in-service support contract covering all aspects of the operation and maintenance of the system will commence when the vessels are put into service in India.

The rescue systems the Indian Navy is to receive include deep search and rescue vehicles (DSRV), launch and recovery systems (LARS) equipment, transfer under pressure (TUP) systems and all logistics and support equipment required to operate the service.

Nick Henry, Chief Executive Officer of JFS, said: “James Fisher has been awarded the contract by demonstrating, through its work with the Royal Navy, the Australian Navy and the Singapore Navy, a commitment to the safety of the global submarine community over many years. We look forward to working with the Indian Navy at the start of this long term relationship.”

The British company previously delivered its subsea rescue systems to the navies of Australia, Republic of Korea and Singapore. The vessels JFD is delivering can dive to a maximum depth of 500 meters and recover 16 sailors at a time.