Non-Subscriber Extract
LR5 sub rescue system moves Down Under
By Tim Fish and Richard Scott
17 June 2009
LR5 arrived in Australia by C-17A heavy-lift aircraft, following transit from the UK, during which it remained on 12 hours' notice to deploy. (Australian DoD)
UK-based submarine rescue specialist James Fisher Defence (JFD) established a presence in Australia with the delivery on 2 June of its LR5 submarine rescue vehicle to Henderson, Western Australia.
Under contract to the Australian Department of Defence (DoD), JFD is providing an on-call submarine rescue service to cover for the non-availability of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) rescue vehicle Remora , which was stranded on the seabed during an exercise in December 2006.
Remora has since been refurbished, but its launch and recovery system has failed to receive Det Norske Veritas certification.
To cover the gap, JFD was originally contracted to provide submarine rescue services for the RAN from the company's base in Renfrew, Scotland. This was judged adequate to meet an 80-hour deadline for first rescue, but did not allow for the capability to be exercised with the navy's six Collins-class submarines.
In a statement on 4 June, the DoD said: "While having the LR5 submarine rescue system on call in the [UK] met the navy's requirements for responding to submarine emergencies, the relocation improves response times and allows the [RAN] to exercise the capability with Collins-class submarines."