According to information published on December 16, 2020, British company BAR Technologies, an innovative simulation-driven marine engineering consultancy, has announced that it has been chosen to support British advanced maritime technology business, SubSea Craft Ltd, in the design and build of subsea craft VICTA – the world’s most advanced diver delivery unit.
Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link
Drawing of Subsea Craft VICTA diver delivery unit. (Picture source BAR Technologies)
As the principal partner, BAR Technologies has been integral to the shape and form of VICTA – designing and optimizing the hull and control system to enable truly remarkable performance both on the surface and submerged.
BAR Technologies and SubSea Craft began collaborating on the VICTA development in 2018, progressing the build over the previous 14 months. The vessel is currently in ‘finishing’ where the carbon fiber hull is completed prior to receiving a synthetic, colored outer ‘wrap’. This crucial step provides VICTA’s streamlined shape, reduces the acoustic signature, and assures watertight integrity. These are essential components for a craft designed to operate at speed on the surface before submerging rapidly to transit, discreetly, below the surface.
Working together, SubSea Craft and BAR Technologies are currently focused on completing this phase of activity to prepare VICTA for successful trials and testing next year.
In partnering with SubSea Craft, BAR Technologies has used its expertise in computational fluid dynamics to help deliver a performance envelope for the vessel that will enable it to hit circa 40kts and 250nm endurance on the surface, matched by an equally impressive underwater specification where four hours endurance can navigate two crew and six divers for 25nm.
At the heart of this is VICTA’s fully fly-by-wire advanced control system, ensuring the safe management of the dive and surfacing evolutions and propulsion controls.
This advanced technology, enabling reliability, resilience and availability, combined with an ability to operate at speed over range and with rapid transition and sub-surface navigation, marks VICTA out as presenting remarkable capabilities. This is further complemented by the operational flexibility – with the vessel able to be delivered into a theatre of operations from a road trailer, by a surface vessel, helicopter, or air-transport aircraft.
VICTA is a unique and innovative craft – the world’s most sophisticated Diver Delivery Unit (DDU). Its distinctive form combines the characteristics of a Long-Range Insertion Craft (LRIC) with those of a Swimmer Delivery Vehicle (SDV). Over the past two years SubSea Craft has harnessed novel, market-leading technology to bring the vessel to life and VICTA is now in final fit-out ahead of comprehensive trials and testing, which will take place in 2021.
Primarily aimed at the defense market, this unique British maritime technology provides significant operational capability, broadening the options for commanders of Maritime, Joint, and Special operations. Although focused on defense, there is potential utility elsewhere in the leisure, research, and security sectors.
