A long-awaited dry minisub that will transport teams to coastal targets without completely soaking them will soon be available to the SEALs of the United States Navy.
The SEALs' infamous swim and surf training is based, in part, on the requirement that their operators be able to carry out the mission in the face of the challenges of a cold, soaking wet seaborne insertion. The current generation of SEAL Delivery Vehicles (SDVs) can be transported in a dry deck shelter on top of a nuclear submarine, but once the SDV leaves the dry deck, the "dry" part is over. These essential submerged vehicles are available to the components, and SEALs need to wear wet suits and jumping gear all through the travel to their objective. The operator benefits little from this approach.
The Navy has pursued a long-term R&D program to develop an enclosed sub with a pressure hull in order to secretly transport SEALs to and from their target without fatigue's limiting effects or for safe decompression during deeper dives. This special-purpose vehicle, known as the Dry Combat Submersible (DCS), has been in various stages of research and development for the past 15 years, and it is now complete.
On Wednesday, Extraordinary Activities Order affirmed that the DCS will be functional by Dedication Day, undersea program administrator John Conway told the group at the SOF Week meeting in Tampa. " "This scenario is coming to an end," he stated. In 2021, delivery was initially anticipated.
Two past endeavors to foster a dry minisub for SEAL conveyance authoritatively finished in disappointment. The Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS), which was twice as big as the DCS, was a project that Northrop Grumman tried to build in the middle of the 1990s. The research and development program continued throughout the beginning of the War on Terror, but the prototype caught fire in 2008, prompting the Navy to end the program the following year. The deck-carrying mounting brackets remain in two nuclear submarines.) The Joint Multi-Mission Submersible, the second attempt at a dry minisub, failed almost immediately.
In 2016, Lockheed Martin and UK-based MSubs, a manufacturer of swimmer lockout subs, were awarded a contract to develop the DCS on a third try. As per MSubs, the unit is 39 feet in length, can make speeds up to five bunches and can travel 60 nautical miles submerged with eight SEALs ready - something like two times to the extent that the flow age wet SDV. This new operational capability carries significant risks.
These are national missions with authority and command. Can't lose. So in those specialty missions, it's truly significant we have innovation that is front line," then-Rep. In 2016, Ryan Zinke (R-MT) told The Hill at the beginning of the program.
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