New defence industry jobs will be created after JFD Australia, the proven, trusted and reliable delivery partner for undersea combat support systems, announced it had secured a major contract.

The $7.2 million contract to build and pressure test ring stiffened cylinders modelling submarine-like hulls was awarded by the Australian Government Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) and will lead to the creation of several new positions for project managers and skilled workers.

The hull is the most structurally important part of a submarine as it allows the submarine to withstand incredible amounts of water pressure as it dives deep below the ocean‘s surface.

Working with the DSTG, Australian partners and JFD’s global testing centre in Scotland, JFD Australia will assist DSTG to test and validate analysis methods and procedures that will be relied upon in the future for assurance and acceptance of the pressure hull design of the Australian Attack Class Submarine.

“It is impossible to underestimate the critical significance of a submarine’s hull or the expertise and experience required to ensure it is pressure tested to the world’s highest possible safety standards,” said Mr. Toff Idrus, Managing Director, JFD Australia (himself, a former submariner).

“Safety will always be JFD’s number one priority, notably keeping Australian submariners safe.”

“As the prime system integrator, JFD Australia will partner with other leading Western Australian defence industry firms over the duration of the four-year contract which will focus on testing three pressure vessels to simulate a submarine hull and apply pressure to the point where the hull collapses”.

It will be managed from JFD Australia’s headquarters and advanced production centre in Bibra Lake, south of Perth where a project management team has already commenced preliminary work on engineering and fabrication for the test cylinders.

Specialised transport crates, cradles and pallets and packaging needed for transportation will be made at JFD’s manufacturing and fabrication facilities at Warners Bay near Newcastle.

Importantly, JFD Australia will also draw upon the global experience of JFD, whose parent company James Fisher and Sons plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and delivers safe under-water systems to 80 nations and 33 navies.

JFD’s world-leading hydrostatic testing facility in Aberdeen, Scotland, will be used for the final pressure tests.

“This is an excellent example of Australian defence industry companies working together to deliver a world-class service and with the added global backing of JFD through its world-leading capability in pressure testing,” said Mr. Idrus.

The image above looks like it could be ripped from a space action science-fiction thriller, the classic shot of hulking and futuristic starships under construction in orbit, but its origin is far more down to earth than that. It was taken at BAE Systems’ Devonshire Dock Hall located in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The massive enclosure is the largest of its kind in Europe and it is where modern Royal Navy submarines are born.

JFD has again set new global benchmarks for international submarine rescue following the successful completion of rigorous exercises off the coast of Western Australia.

In a range of weather conditions, JFD’s fully-integrated submarine rescue system demonstrated its robustness and reliability in the triennial Pacific Reach, a multi-lateral series of exercises, hosted in 2019 by Australia with the participating nations of South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and the United States and many other observing countries from the Indo-Pacific region.

Designed to simulate a real-life submarine rescue emergency using Collins-class submarine HMAS SHEEAN and South Korean submarine, ROKS Lee Sun-sin, Pacific Reach, which this year was held in tandem with the annual Black Carillon exercise, tested all aspects of JFD’s rescue system which includes a free-swimming, piloted submarine rescue vehicle that is designed to locate and “mate” with a disabled submarine and a hyperbaric equipment suite to provide submariners with life-saving medical treatment once they are back on the water’s surface.

Importantly this year, along with a series of shallow exercises, the system also successfully completed two deep dives of 400 metres, securing annual certification for this critical sovereign capability.

The 26-day deployment also included a mass evacuation exercise conducted over 36 hours.

This involved six separate exercises as 25 Navy personnel rescued 45 submariners with a variety of simulated injuries and conditions and transported them under pressure to the surface for medical treatment in JFD’s world class hyperbaric equipment suite.

 “Never before have we tested our system to the very limits of its design capability and I am delighted to say it performed exceedingly well both in its reliability and flexibility,” said JFD Australia’s Managing Director, Mr. Toff Idrus (himself, a former submariner).

“It was an extremely long and demanding exercise which included specialist equipment installation and de-mobilization phases and that there were no reportable incidents, accidents or injuries is a clear demonstration of our world-leading safety standards.”

“It was also extremely pleasing for our staff and supply chain to be complimented by global submarine rescue experts on the exceptional material state of the full kit and its ability to operate so seamlessly, it really did show that JFD is the world leader in submarine escape and rescue.”

Across the four weeks, which relied heavily upon the management and technical skills of JFD’s team of more than 40 engineers, operators and tradespeople, the submarine rescue system also successfully completed:

• 23 submarine rescue vehicle sorties
• 72 hours of dive time
• 75 dives
• 16 dives of the remotely operated vehicle
• 21 hours training
• 16 newly trained and qualified personnel in a variety of positions

“Keeping submariners and other defence force personnel safe has been and will always be JFD’s highest priority,” said Mr. Idrus. “At our Australian headquarters in Perth, we are proud to be “rescue-ready” at 12 hours’ notice to respond to a disabled submarine anywhere in the world. “But what is also critically important is having the opportunity to work with our regional partners and to demonstrate our trust and confidence in each other’s ability to carry out an extremely challenging rescue operation. “Each and every one of us is focused on saving lives.”

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JFD, the world leading underwater capability provider serving the commercial and defence diving markets and part of James Fisher and Sons plc, today announced a new partnership with Innovation Maritime, a non-profit innovation organisation developing marine solutions through applied research, technical assistance and information dissemination.

The partnership, which will support global sales of the Submarine Escape Trainer (SET), is part of JFD’s ongoing ambition to improve safety and preserve the lives of submariners across the globe. The partnership will further the ability of submarine operating nations to train their submariners for escape and abandonment scenarios in the most realistic environment possible.

In the event that a submarine in distress cannot surface, the options available to submariners depend upon the circumstances. They may either be able to wait for rescue or, if the circumstances require it, to evacuate via an emergency escape system. The SET is a diving bell equipped with a replica submarine escape tower. This escape training module is moved vertically in a water column using mechanical systems which allows comprehensive training to be carried out in a perfectly controlled environment. Through this new partnership, JFD will be able to offer the SET solution, or variants, to customers thereby broadening its escape offering. JFD can also tailor its provisions to customers’ unique requirements, offering the best capabilities on the market. The partnership continues JFD’s strategy to provide customers with a total support capability from escape training through to a full submarine rescue service.

Giovanni Corbetta, Managing Director, JFD, said:

“We are thrilled to have signed this new partnership with Innovation Maritime, which enables us to share our innovation and subsea expertise and provide, not just world-class training, but also escape also. As a company, we are committed to submarine escape and rescue and consistently deliver the best possible equipment and training to submariners, maximising their chances of survival in the event of an incident. The Innovation Maritime SET solution widens our provisions to the market and is a natural step following our recent partnerships with Aquacentrum Den Helder in the Netherlands and Y-40 in Italy. Thus further demonstrating our commitment to providing customers with the best possible capabilities to conduct essential training and a full end-to-end support capability for international navies and submariners.”

Sylvain Lafrance, Executive Director, Innovation Maritime, said:

“The JFD partnership is an important step for Innovation Maritime through which we will be able to provide a world-class submarine escape system capability, as well as advanced training, to the world’s navies. We have already delivered a SET to the Institut maritime du Québec for the training of the Canadian Navy. To date, more than 1,200 submariners have been trained since 2003 using this system.”

JFD operates at the forefront of innovation and is a global leader in the provision of submarine escape and support services, working with some of the most advanced navies in the world. Following on from strategic partnerships with both Aquacentrum Den Helder, provider of submarine escape and commercial diving training, and Y-40, owner and operator of the world’s deepest pool to enhance submarine escape training, JFD continues to set new standards in the delivery of comprehensive technologies and training that break new ground in safety and protecting life at sea.