Royal Navy clearance divers demonstrated the latest weapon in their arsenal to deal with the terrorist threat: a £1m bomb disposal robot.
The team at Southern Diving Unit 1 in Plymouth neutralised a replica car bomb using the new device, known as ‘Cutlass’.
Pictures: LA(Phot) Dean Nixon, FRPU West
THIS is a Royal Navy cutlass – 21st-Century style.
This is the sophisticated new remote-controlled vehicle, the £1m ‘Cutlass’ to give the Navy’s diving teams the edge in bomb disposal.
The six-wheeled Cutlass can be used to remotely neutralise homemade bombs – improvised explosive devices – left by terrorists and is being introduced to the Southern Diving Group, demonstrated here by Plymouth-based Southern Diving Group 1.
“Cutlass has many technological advances over the previous ‘wheelbarrow’ system,” explained Lt Cdr Ross Balfour, Officer in Charge SDU1.
“It has a multiple-articulated weapons boom which replicates the movements of a human arm, allowing the operator unrivalled access to an enclosed space, like a vehicle. It is controlled via computer and fibre optic link with advanced optics allowing exceptional visual awareness of the area and any device.
“Cutlass represents a major improvement in our explosive ordnance disposal capability whilst improving safety for the general public and our divers.”
One of the dive team helps his colleague with his kit as he enters the seven-metre dive tank at Devonport
He and his fellow divers took the opportunity to demonstrate their new piece of kit when the new head of Royal Naval Mine Warfare and Diving, Capt Phil Milburn, visited SDU1’s headquarters in Devonport Naval Base. He watched as Cutlass dealt with a simulated car bomb at an exercise area.
The captain, who is in charge of all RN minehunters, patrol craft and the Fisheries Protection Fleet, was shown aspects of how the divers assist civil agencies, keeping the countryside and coastline safe from unexploded devices which are often discovered by walkers on the coast, uncovered by tides or lifted by unsuspecting fishing vessels from the sea bed or old ‘souvenir’ WW1 grenades found in houses.
“We showcased the diverse skill set provided by the Royal Navy clearance diving branch and demonstrated how we go about providing round-the-clock cover to protect the public from unexploded ordnance and suspect devices,” Lt Cdr Balfour explained.
“The divers also demonstrated the seven-metre-deep training tank, divers using closed-circuit re-breathing equipment, lifting and moving a practice bomb with a remote airbag and attaching dummy explosive charges to simulate rendering it safe.’’
Together with its sister formation (SDU2) in Portsmouth, the two diving units are responsible for dealing with unexploded ordnance around the coast of England and Wales from south of the River Dee near Liverpool to the River Humber on the east coast, and including the Channel and Scilly Isles.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
How did you like the post, leave a comment. I would appreciate hearing from you all. Best wishes from JC's Naval, Maritime and Military News