SubseaCraft selects BAR Technologies to delivery VICTA – The World’s Most Advanced Diver Delivery Unit
Partnership underway to deliver vessel ready for trials and testing in 2021
Portsmouth, 16th December
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 VICTA – the world’s most advanced diver delivery unit.
As the principal partner, BAR Technologies has been integral to the shape and form of VICTA – designing and optimising 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 fibre hull is completed prior to receiving a synthetic, coloured 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 surface vessel, helicopter or air-transport aircraft.
John Cooper, Chief Executive Officer, BAR Technologies, said: “At the heart of this project is crew and diver safety, and we knew that nothing less than world-class design and build would suffice.
“Drawing on our racing team heritage, we have been able to bring some of the most innovative, advanced techniques in computational fluid dynamics to bear, with our leading in-house simulation capabilities. The ability to scale a solution to provide an agile response to a complex brief is testimony to the breadth and versatility of maritime technology, and we are proud to be supporting on such an important project.”
Scott Verney, CEO at SubSea Craft, added: “VICTA represents the beginning of a new line of next-generation diver delivery units, which will transform operation capabilities for above and below surface transit.
“We collaborate with the world’s leading specialist engineering consultants such as BAR Technologies, blending best in class industry advancements with an agile business mind-set to influence the development of our craft.
“It’s pivotal to achieving VICTA’s technical edge and we are confident that with BAR Technologies’ expertise, the vessel’s advanced specifications make it the superior choice for inconspicuous insertion and extraction tactics across the spectrum of specialist maritime operations.”
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 defence market, this unique British maritime technology provides significant operational capability, broadening the options for commanders of Maritime, Joint and Special operations. Although focused on defence, there is potential utility elsewhere in the leisure, research and security sectors.