The boys are getting more toys.
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European Stars and Stripes
June 28, 2003
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
ARLINGTON, Va. - The Navy Sea Systems Command in Annapolis, Md., took
delivery of the first Advanced SEAL Delivery System on Thursday, a
long-awaited event for a SEAL community eager to try out the "Seaquest"-like
mini-submarine that can take them and their combat gear to and from hostile
shores.
Technically known as a "dry submersible," the ASDS is a mini-submarine
designed by Northrop Grumman's Oceanic and Naval Systems division to carry
small groups of SEALs underwater for long distances, at high speeds (the
precise figures are classified).
Calling the ASDS a "first-of-its-kind system," and "a major milestone," Navy
Capt. Joe Fallone, ASDS Program Manager at Naval Sea Systems Command, said
during the delivery ceremony that the sub will provide "a new level of
operational capability to SEAL forces in high-threat areas."
The sub is stored inside the hull of a conventional "mother" submarine,
which acts as both the launch and recover platform for ASDS during missions.
Not for claustrophobics, the ASDS features tight quarters and is driven by a
pilot, who is assisted by a SEAL navigator. Behind the crew, stacked like
sardines in a can, sits a SEAL squad of eight men. Also inside the
pressurized chamber internal chamber is a well. SEALs can simply slide into
the well and swim right out of the sub into the water, and come back in the
same way.
At first, the mini-sub only will be deployable from some modified Los
Angeles-class fast-attack submarines. Eventually, however, four
Trident-class SSBN fleet ballistic missile submarines will be retrofitted to
carry the ASDS, as will Virginia-class attack submarines and the last of the
Seawolf class, the Jimmy Carter (SSN 23).
Like the SEALs themselves, the ASDS belongs to the U.S. Special Operations
Command, the Tampa, Fla., organization tasked with oversight of all the U.S.
military unconventional warfare forces. |
