The Ministry of Defence has issued an invitation for industry to tender to supply Personal Locator Beacons.
In a recent announcement, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has issued an invitation to tender for the procurement of 336 Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs).
The project, valued at £400,000, aims to address the current capability gap in all in-service platforms.
PLBs are essential safety devices carried onboard submarines, used in the event of a Distressed Submarine (DISSUB) incident. These beacons play a crucial role in locating and rescuing crews during escape or surface abandonment scenarios.
Personal Locator Beacons are compact, portable emergency devices designed to transmit a distress signal to search and rescue organisations in case of a life-threatening situation.
The notice reads:
“Personal Locator Beacons are held onboard submarines for use in the event of a Distressed Submarine (DISSUB) event resulting in an escape or surface abandonment scenario. There is currently a requirement for additional Personal Locator Beacons to support all In-Service platforms. This ITT seeks to fulfil the capability gap with a procurement of 336 Personal Locator Beacons.”
It must be a difficult challenge to have a sub that can stay as invisible as humanly possible while at the same time wanting to be found in the event of a disaster.
That would appear to be very expensive for a PLB (£1200 each).
Off the shelf PLB’s are only around £1-200
Haha, everything the military buys is 10x the price a civvy would pay
I’ve got a PLB for my hiking. It has a 10 year battery and will transmit a signal for 24 hours. You can get an upgraded version which transmits for 48 hours (useful if you are in the middle of an ocean, not so needed in Northumberland).
It cost £150.
Rather depends on where the submariner is at the time of deployment. Its not inconceivable that they are a thousand miles from land and totally reliant on the signal being picked by satellite. It may also be required to transmit on a discrete frequency rather than the general frequency ( at a guess 121.5) your kit uses.
But does yours still work when its been pressurised to 20+ Bar and subjected to an escape assent from 600 ft underwater?
Gunbuster. No submariner is going to be alive if they ascent from 600ft under without being in a pressurised escape capsule. So these PLBs will be useful to retrieve the dead bodies of submariners who have died from the bends.
All submariners go through that assent at the SETT.
Unsure of the distance though. Hopefully Deep will comment.
SETT has been shut down for years. It’s just trainning now. 😎
I know the SETT at Fort Blockhouse ( old Dolphin ) closed when the RN SS moved, I assumed they had a new one?
Hi Daniele. What I ment to say, it’s dry trainning now and its all done at Faslane😎
Really? Thanks. Seems a step back not having such a great training aid as the SETT.
Dont think it has a tower but you do get wet…
Thank God for that!! They cannot simulate everything.
Lets hope the dunking pool at Yeovilton UETU doesn’t go to..🙄
you can escape from any depth, subs are normally limited to escape from continental shelf depths circa 600ft.
Mainly because if not over the shelf the sub wont survive going beyond its crush depth making escape difficult. if going down slowly enough a rush escape is possible.
in the 90’s they were doing escape from deep fjords in norway at 600ft ish
with a tower escape you are only under air pressure for a few seconds, it apparently will pop your ear drums at depth mind you.
as they said, head in water, breath out all the way to the surface.
head in air breath normally.(the suit hood gets filled with air causing an air pocket, the inflated suit also puts air into this pocket as you rise and the air expands)
A fellow bin bag, well said shipmate
Just ,thinking , Back- aftie that a record was set some years back for a Subcrash submiss exercise with an escape at 200mtr open water with the SETT at Hms Dolphin although for all Sundodgers in training it was built at a time when the Navy was all Diesel electric boats hence depth difference for escape I was based there in 87 88 ,those Ratingd in training who had too ascend the tower would often be punched in the stomach by the Sett staff if they tried too hold their breathe instead of breathing out on their ascent all for an extra 5 pound a day as a submariner
holding your breath leads to burst lungs!, i went through dolphin summer of 88 🙂 , can probably stil name everything in the escape locker, the super special item of course being the chisel ended wheel spanner 🙂
Back Aftie thanks for those memories of Dolphin ,All we did was the Saluting guns and IS for the base ,being Asthmatic was unable too go Bubblehead or Sundodger cushy number I’ve been lead too believe that the SETT is going on the Listed buildings register As with Blockhouse
I beg to differ.
RN submarine escape SUIT. Designed for use at 183m or 600ft
https://survitecgroup.com/survitecproducts/15494/seiemk11
How is the estimate so high. My. PLB for a yacht any where in the World cost £70.00.That was retail – not bulk trade price. Even at my price the total cost would be £23,520. What is the MOD estimate based on?
Ex RAF 1960’S here. I served in a communications capacity at HQ Coastal Command Northwood and although not of any senior rank have always had a keen interest in surveillance of opposing forces. I’m no expert in modern battle scenarios but have always wondered why long duration fully automated airships have not been developed in conjunction with automated submarine craft. This would greatly expand Nato’s ability to be in many places at once much more quickly and effectively. Just my armchair thoughts, ho hum…back to the crossword.
I would have thought it a higher priority to provide PLBs for personnel involved in deck work on surface ships and small craft, patrol boats, RIBs, surveying, mine hunting, diving etc etc.
Probably this One
So waterproof down to 300m plus a Shed load of other features
https://survitecgroup.com/survitecproducts/17169/crewsafev200plb