Submarine rescue cooperation and interoperability with the U.S. Navy and Royal Malaysian Navy.
The Ship Interface Template Set (SITS) are rumoured to be installed in RMN Kota Kinabalu Naval Base. The SITS will allow the Royal Malaysian Navy to host the US Navy’s Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System’s (SRDRS) Pressurized Rescue Module System (PRMS) rescue vehicle and associated Launch & Recovery System.
The Royal Malaysian Navy intends to house the SITS in RMN KK Naval Base in Teluk Sepanggar Sabah. This will significantly improve submarine rescue response times for both Malaysia and the U.S. in South China Sea, under a related Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Case between the two governments.
Teluk Sepanggar is significant since the VOO can be prepared while the SRDRS is in transit to respond to an South China Sea DISSUB incident.
The SITS design, which consists of metallic support structures that weld onto a vessel’s deck, enables installation of the U.S. Navy’s SRDRS, including the PRMS, onto a Vessel Of Opportunity (VOO), which can drastically reduce the response time required to reach a Disabled Submarine (DISSUB). This concept of operations involves mobilizing the SRDRS via air transport, installing it onto the VOO equipped with the SITS , and rushing to the scene of a DISSUB to attempt a rescue of the crew members on board. MV Mega Bakti is Malaysian current submarine rescue ship.
Picture shows Deep Search and Rescue Six (DSAR6) from singapore being launched from the MV Swift Rescue for a rescue operation during a submarine rescue exercise in 2010.
MMP