SRV Emergency Drop Weight

Client : James Fisher Defence Completed : May '08

"In the course of 2 years JFD and Fearsomengine have worked closely on several projects and a strong partnership has been established. Key to this relationship is FE's capacity to adapt their approach to match the exacting needs of our business. Submersible design and operation is tightly controlled by standards and FE's solutions have proven themselves to be robust in the face of internal and external review - made more noteworthy by the vital functions these assemblies provide. It's imperative that the end-users of life critical systems 'buy in' to any proposed design - FE's thoroughness, commitment to quality design and close interaction with JFD has ensured that a high degree of confidence has been carried through into service of our products."

Craig Freshwater, Senior Design Engineer, James Fisher Defence

If a submarine rescue vehicle (SRV) encounters problems whilst deployed it may be rendered without power to resurface. To cater for this event, the SRV carries a heavy weight and when the weight is released, the buoyancy of the remaining air in the trim tanks will carry the vessel to the surface.

We were tasked with designing a hydraulically operated Drop Weight to fit the DSAR5 and DSAR6 SRVs being developed by James Fisher Defence. The specification included extreme angles of pitch and roll and delicate surrounding equipment had to be avoided by the ejected weight.

We delivered the design, verification and compilation of supporting documentation including comprehensive manufacturing drawings. The Drop Weight went into service in 2008.