RUSSIAN NAVY ACQUIRES NEW UNDERWATER RESCUE EQUIPMENT

Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Moscow
2 Aug 07

Yesterday the Russian navy’s commander-in-chief, Flt-Adm Vladimir
Masorin, announced that since the loss of the submarine Kursk the
rescue service for naval sailors has been significantly improved.

"Special attention has been concentrated on the problem of rescuing
crews from damaged submarines as the most complex and important,"
Masorin specified. "The newest domestic and foreign remote-controlled
Tiger, Falkov, Obzor-150, and Venom submersibles have been purchased
and delivered to the fleets. They are intended for searching and
examining objects on the bottom.

They can also perform other underwater work."

In addition, the admiral continued, the Kalmar mobile search system,
which is designed to determine the coordinates of underwater targets,
has undergone state testing. This deepwater robot distinguished itself
well during the search for the black boxes of the Armenian A-320
airplane that suffered a disaster in the region of Adler Airport in
May of last year.

But Masorin’s announcement that the Pantera Plyus autonomous
air-transportable has already been accepted for service was a true
sensation; work to eliminate the most complex accidents can be carried
out with its help.

"If our rescuers had had such a system in August 2005, when the
incident with the submersible AS-28 took place in the Pacific Fleet,"
said the commander-in-chief, "we would not have had to ask for help
abroad."

The admiral said that the Pantera Plyus underwent a practical
inspection during Rescue-Service exercises in the Baltic Sea.

"The submersible coped with its assigned mission under the
most difficult storm conditions at the limit of its technical
specifications," the commander-in-chief noted.

The search for a damaged submarine lying on the bottom was conducted
with the help of the Pantera Plyus system. The submersible cleared
the site. Then steel cables were cut that were interfering with the
landing of a manned rescue submersible. It was also possible to supply
high-pressure air to the damaged submarine with the submersible’s
help. Then with the new submersible’s help, the submarine was raised
to the surface.

Vladimir Masorin noted another valuable acquisition by the Navy –
a Rus autonomous deepwater submersible, which successfully underwent
state tests in the Atlantic Ocean.

Touching on the construction of new rescue ships for the Russian navy,
Masorin reported that the construction of three new-type rescue ships
was planned through 2015. The Igor Belousov is under construction
at Admiralteyskiye Verfi design bureau in St Petersburg; it is a
large rescue ship, and it will have helicopters and both manned and
remote-controlled rescue submersibles onboard.

This ship will be equipped with medical laboratories with the newest
equipment.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress