BMT Design & Technology (BMT), a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd, in collaboration with Defense Science and Technology Organization (DSTO), has secured funding through the Australian Defense Science Institute’s Collaboration Research Grant Scheme which, this year, attracted more than 30 high quality research proposals seeking over $1.4 million in funding.
The scheme was introduced to enable industry and/or DSTO to undertake collaborative research with DSI participating universities. Through the research grant, BMT will work closely with DSTO and Victoria University to develop a risk analysis and evaluation of emerging technologies, challenges and design solutions for input to the SEA1000 program.
Specifically, the research project will seek to review the range of possible technologies that could be integrated into the future submarine and provide a risk-based assessment of all components and sub-components of the future submarine fire safety system, from fire prevention, detection and suppression to occupant response/behaviour and emergency procedures.
Aidan Depetro, Senior Engineer at BMT Design & Technology comments: “Australia’s next generation submarine is likely to feature a combination of new and existing technologies which in turn, creates unexplored risks. The severity of those risks, potential mitigation measures and the effectiveness of any proposed controls are all unknown and there has been very little work carried out in this area.”
He continues: “This study aims to bridge this knowledge gap and build on our existing assurance, risk analysis and business case services. Importantly, it provides BMT with the opportunity to offer technical support to the SEA1000 program which is the aspiration of many engineers within the Australian defence industry, none more than those at BMT.”