SEVASTOPOL. July 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Black Sea Fleet's search and rescue forces will surely rescue a sub in case of emergency, said Admiral Vladimir Masorin, the Russian Navy Commander, summing up the results of the exercise carried out in the Black Sea, the fleet's press service informs.
"I can say confidently, based on the results of the exercise, that the SAR forces of the Black Sea Fleet are ready to act as prescribed," he said.
"We held SAR exercise at the Northern Fleet last year, and next year we are going to hold the same exercise at the Baltic Fleet, with air mobile rescue assets to be employed," he added.
According to the press service, Masorin also said that the Navy bought new equipment to put in action last year's plans to improve the capabilities of the SAR force. For instance, the Panther TV-guided submersible is now being made in Great Britain at the Russian order. The system is intended for operation at the depth of 1,000m. Before end of 2006, the submersible will have been handed over to the Russian Navy. In addition to that, rigid environmental suit for operations at 360m, and unmanned Tiger and Venom submersibles were adopted for service with the Black Sea Fleet after the Kursk submarine disaster in 2000.
The Navy Commander also said that the Igor Belousov rescue ship is now being built as well as the Bester air-portable rescue submersible, intended to rescue up to 20 submariners from the depths up to 720m. The modernization of the Rus deep-submergence vehicle has also been completed to provide it with capability to operate at depth of 6,000m. To crown it all, the fleet of in-service Priz submersibles is undergoing upgrade now.
The Black Sea Fleet's press service also informs that the repairs have been provided to the Alagez rescue ship that can carry up to four manned submersibles, a helicopter and an environmental suit complex for operation at 200m.
To improve the prestige of service and provide incentives to specialists of the fleet's rescue forces, their wages were raised, with an additional 15% bonus granted for duty as part as rescue teams.
The Russian Navy Commander thanked the fleet's leadership for the high quality of the exercise, which was yet another contribution to the safety of military service and demonstrated the readiness of fleet's SAR forces.
The exercise started on July 6. The SAR forces of the fleet rehearsed rescuing a submarine lying at the sea bottom. Involved in the maneuvers were the Alrosa submarine, the Epron rescue ship, the Kommuna rescue tug, the Shakhter rescue tug, the SB-5 rescue tug, the Turbinist minesweeper, the Cheliken hydrographic research ship, Tiger and Obzor deep submergence vehicles, AS-5 rescue system and SK-63 rescue bell. Also, fleet's aviation was involved.