 The new NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) has been taking part in the NATO Exercise Bold Monarch 08, alongside Russian and US rescue systems. During the exercise submarines from Norway, The Netherlands and Poland will be bottomed in a simulated sinking and rescue systems then ‘mate’ with the submarine to rescue the survivors.
During the exercise so far the NSRS has successfully ‘mated’ with all three submarines. The rescue system has performed very well and is a true success story for a fully integrated NATO submarine rescue capability.Paul Bray from the NSRS integrated project team said: ‘Exercise Bold Monarch 08 is providing representative disabled submarine scenarios aiding operator training and against which the NSRS can be tested. The system is performing very well achieving all the exercise objectives and is providing a clear vision of its potential to deliver a significant increase to global rescue capability.’ The NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) is a multi-national project managed by the UK as Host Nation on behalf of the three Participants - France, Norway and the UK. The contract for the design, build and initial, 7-year period of in-service operation was awarded to Rolls-Royce in May 2004. The NSRS will provide an effective future rescue capability for the three nations and will be used to rescue the surviving crew in the extremely unlikely event of a submarine sinking emergency at sea. The project was prompted by the need to replace existing submarine rescue systems as they near the end of design life, and the opportunity that was presented to provide a fully integrated NATO submarine rescue capability. |
