Rapid deployment

Rapid deployment

BY RICHARD SCOTT

Survitec (Stand 05-C22) will formally launch its GPM range of military inflatable boats at NAVDEX today.

The GPM is a rugged, robust and lightweight inflatable boat constructed of high-spec Hypalon synthetic rubber to provide increased abrasion and ultraviolet resistance. GPM boats come in five sizes ranging from 3.8m to 5.8m and have a single point of inflation – the 5.3m boat can be inflated in just one minute.

According to Survitec, the GPM range has been developed in response to customer and user feedback from ex-marine boat specialists and other specialist military units. Designed for all insertion and extraction scenarios, the boats’ single point of inflation can be configured to suit the requirements of the customer, making inflation during subsurface operations, paradrops and helocasts more user-friendly.

Additional features include extra wear patches on the tubes, extra rubbing strake on the keel and a double-skin reinforcement on the bow area to protect the boat from damage during beach operations.

Inflatable boats are often used for a range of tasks, varying from logistical to special forces/ reconnaissance missions, which are frequently carried out in harsh environments. Survitec has therefore added armour protection to certain points of the GPM range to offer reinforcement against punctures and tears.

The GPM boats also come equipped with a rapid-deploy tow that allows a stricken vessel to be attached to a tow while the boat carrying out the rescue keeps moving.

Devised and built by Survitec, the rapid-deploy tow is located at the back of boat in a built-in parcel and ready to deploy. It can be solely operated by the coxswain, who, as he or she drives past, pulls on the toggle and clips the tow to the stricken vessel before removing it from danger.

Lightweight and compact

UK-based MSI-Defence Systems (Stand B-016) is displaying a fullscale model of its new Seahawk

Multi Weapon Station (MWS) at NAVDEX. Now through development, the MWS mounting will be completing final performance firing trials in the UK during the show week.

The most lightweight and compact member of the Seahawk family, and leveraging the video auto-tracker, ballistic computer/ predictor and control console already proven in larger Seahawk mountings, the MWS is being aimed at small fast craft and unmanned surface vessels (USVs). Designed for high structural stiffness and integrating hightorque zero-backlash drives, the MWS mounting adopts a singlearm construction (common to MSI-Defence’s proprietary electro-optical surveillance system) with a universal soft mount able to receive 7.62mm or 12.7mm weapons from a variety of manufacturers. Alternatively, the same soft mount can accept a 40mm grenade launcher.

MSI-Defence Systems has been selected by BAE Systems to provide the remote weapon station for an advanced USV testbed. Demonstrations of the USV equipped with the Seahawk MWS mounting took place in the UK during late 2018.