VLADIVOSTOK. Nov 1 (Interfax) - A search and rescue unit of Russia's Pacific Fleet has practiced assisting a submarine in distress lying on the seafloor in the Peter the Great Gulf, the fleet's fleet press service said in a statement on Monday.
The exercise took place at a special sea range, where a mock coaming platform of a submarine was put at a depth of about 60 meters, it said.
The Georgy Kozmin rescue vessel reached the designated area and used the Pantera Plus unmanned deep submergence vehicle to detect and tentatively examine the mock coaming platform of a submarine. Then, an AS-40 deep submergence vehicle was floated out from the rescue vessel, the statement said.
The AS-40 submerged, established the coordinates of the underwater object, and then approached the mock coaming platform and successfully docked with it, it said.
The exercise took place consistent with the Pacific Fleet's combat training plan. The exercise's tasks were fully achieved, it said.
The working diving depth of the AS-40 Bester-1 deep submergence rescue vehicle of Project 18271 is 700 meters. The vehicle has state-of-the-art control systems, a unified automatic control system, more powerful and completely new propulsion and steering units, a new system of approaching, touching and attaching to a submarine in distress, a modern system for docking with a submarine's emergency hatch which can be used for evacuation with a tilt of up to 45 degrees. The vehicle has a precise system of positioning and navigation at depth.