DIVING GEAR

When the movie Thunderball came out in 1965, fans may have been amazed by the underwater gadgetry used by secret agent James Bond.

Today, in the real world, the elite Navy SEALS and other SOF dive units employ a range of tactical underwater gear that would make even 007 jealous.

“Recreational and commercial diving equipment is designed to allow divers to operate comfortably underwater for some period of time,” said Bruce O’Bannon, vice president of Irvine, Calif.-based RJE International Inc. “Swimming with the fish, taking photos of coral reefs, exploring a wreck or even having to stay at depth to work on some subsea construction jobs, the design criteria is to make the experience somewhat pleasurable. For SEAL and SOF combat swimmers, the water is only a means of getting to the mission and back again covertly. This makes the approach to designing equipment fall under different and unique parameters. And of course, it has to be reliable under the most extreme conditions.”

All special forces require special gear. But water is a harsh mistress. Special operators conducting combat or ISR operations in and below the water face the most demanding of conditions. Navy SEALs, Army combat swimmers and divers, and all SOF dive teams train hard. They must be physically and mentally prepared to face not only the enemy, but also anything Mother Nature can throw at them in a deadly and unpredictable environment. Dive commandos rely on their skills and specialized equipment, which must be durable and battle-tested for the sake of their own lives and the lives of their comrades.

Eric Heid, former combat diver with both the 7th and 1st U.S. Army Special Forces Group, said, “The equipment we use to train with and to dive needs to be virtually indestructible. The advantage we have as combat divers is that we get to procure gear globally. We can get the best equipment available from anywhere in the world. For example, there are great regulators that are U.S.-manufactured, some that are French, or Swiss or German.”

Currently Heid is director of military operations, foreign and domestic, for Oregon-based USIA.

Rebreathers

A traditional scuba tank, or “aqualung” used by most recreational divers, is an open circuit breathing system. A rebreather, on the other hand, is a closed circuit system in which exhaled air, instead of being expelled into the environment with the familiar accompanying trail of bubbles, is reclaimed, reprocessed and made safe for the diver to “rebreathe.” Rebreathers allow for not only more stealthy dives, critical in SOF operations, they also significantly increase dive time.

Navy SEALs use two types of rebreathers for shallow and deepwater dives. The LAR V made by Draeger, headquartered in Germany, is a 100 percent oxygen rebreather, designed for shallow water dives, with a maximum depth of around 70 feet. U.S. Army combat divers also use the LAR V for shallow water dive ops.

But the real beauty of rebreather technology is that rather than the compressed air found in ordinary scuba tanks, military rebreathers use 100 percent oxygen, or for deepwater operations, nitrox or some other combination of oxygen-enriched gases.

These mixed gas rebreathers have a greater oxygen content and a lower nitrogen content than normal air, which allows for extended dive times and deeper maximum depths. The MK16 mixed gas rebreather used by the Navy SEALs allows divers to reach a maximum depth of 1,800 feet.

The MK16 is supplied by Cobham and their U.S. affiliate, Carleton Life Support Systems Inc., located in Davenport, Iowa—one of the best-known suppliers of rebreathers for SEALs and other SOF dive teams.

Cobham military rebreathers are in service anywhere there are SOF divers, from the Arctic to the equator. Cobham has a full line of MK16 electronically controlled rebreathers and derivatives designed to fulfill a variety of special ops roles.

Another well-known supplier of all types of military dive gear including closed-circuit rebreathers, is Aqualung/U.S. Divers. In 2000, the parent company of the Aqualung group, Aqualung International, formed the International Military & Professional Operations Department. The division was designed to bring together the wealth of knowledge within the company in development of equipment for military and professional diving, and leverage that experience exclusively for the research, development and distribution of specialized military products.

According to the company, Aqualung has generated about $1 billion in annual revenue since 2005, and about 15 percent of that, or $150 million, has come from global military sales. The military division in the U.S. is based in Vista, Calif.

Aqualung’s 100 percent oxygen rebreather, the Full Range Oxygen Gas System (FROGS) was recently tested by NATO, and chosen as a replacement for the LAR VI by French Navy special forces divers.

British special forces divers also use the LAR V rebreather for shallow water operations; however, when deeper water operations are called for, UKSF divers turn to the Stealth Rebreather made by Divex. Divex operates from its global headquarters in Westhill, Aberdeen, U.K. After undergoing rigorous side-by-side testing with other offerings including the MK16, the Royal Navy began using the Stealth CDLSE (Clearance Divers Life Support Equipment) in 1998. Today the RN has over 50 units in service. According to a Divex press release, the Stealth CDLSE is a “state-of-the-art compact and highly sophisticated electronically controlled rebreather,” adding that “the CDLSE is capable of being used in multi-mission diving profiles. It has been developed utilizing modern materials and new technologies. Its extremely low WoB (Work of Breathing) surpasses international standards, and, crucial to mine clearance diving operations, it surpasses all NATO non-magnetic and low acoustic standards.”

Dive Suits

Diving suits worn by SEALs and other SOF divers are not your typical wetsuit; they also differ from the drysuits used by commercial and professional divers. When diving with any kind of rebreather, a SEAL or other underwater special operator is required to wear a drysuit.

Unlike wetsuits, which allow a small portion of water to get into the suit, drysuits have been designed to keep all water out, providing a layer of protection and thermal insulation between the skin of the wearer and the surrounding water. This is accomplished with a form-fitting design and the use of watertight seals at all possible entry points, i.e., the wrists, neck and ankles.

Another distinctive feature of drysuits is that since they seal completely, they can be inflated via an inflation valve. This way the wearer can make adjustments to the buoyancy of the suit. On some drysuits, the vent valve will work automatically, as the diver descends or ascends, while on others the diver has to operate the valve manually. Military drysuits usually add further protection against cuts and abrasions to the suit.

USIA provides drysuit technology to many branches of DoD. The company was recently awarded a contract by the Department of Homeland Security for delivery of their light suits, and has recently introduced a line of operator systems designed exclusively for the unique needs of SOF divers.

“USIA is one of the top designers and manufactures of drysuits,” said Heid. “We are using some of the newest fabrics; we have some new technologies on the horizon. We feel that our ‘bag suit,’ or the single cover suit, is the best option for combat divers, and a lot of combat divers agree with that.”

A bag suit has been designed to be a single garment that can be worn by the combat diver in the water and once he arrives on land to carry out his mission. They are tear and impact resistant and can even be interwoven with ballistic panels.

Viking Diving, a division of Trelleborg Protective Products, also is a battle-proven supplier of military dive suits, as is San Diego-based Diving Unlimited International. DUI’s drysuits are in use by SEALs, U.S. Army combat divers and USCG rescue swimmers.

Northern Diver is the exclusive contractor with the U.K. Ministry of Defense (MoD) for military dry suits. All Northern Diver drysuits are built to exceptionally high standards, and are used by the Royal Marines and all U.K. special forces. Several Northern suits used by UKSF are proprietary. According to the company, “Our ability to adapt to specific requirements has helped the MoD improve their range of suits, which are used by U.K. forces worldwide.”

Nav Gear

Portable underwater navigation devices have been designed specifically for Navy SEALs and other tactical divers to be individually worn, or used with submersible vehicles.

“RJE International specializes in the supply of diver navigation systems, acoustic marking and relocation equipment, and diver sonars for subsea mine location and salvage,” O’Bannon said. “Our diver navigation boards or combat swim boards are standard issue with SEAL and SOF divers, both here and worldwide. We also supply underwater acoustic beacons for marking subsea vehicles like SVDs and DPDs or cache equipment for recovery later by divers. For subsea mine location, we supply a non-mag diver sonar that has become a standard with military EOD [explosive ordinance disposal] divers worldwide.”

According to O’Bannon, the company is poised to introduce the next gen in diver navigation. “We are just a few months away from introducing a new diver navigation platform that will operate like a true underwater GPS platform. It will allow a diver to navigate autonomously underwater while providing real-time situational awareness. Small and lightweight, it will be supported with mission planning software and the option to assist in hydrograph beach surveys by creating subsea maps.”

U.K.-based technology innovator QinetiQ has developed and demonstrated their Diver Reconnaissance System (DRS). The DRS was specifically designed for use in shallow littoral waters, for EOD dive teams working mines countermeasures operations.

The DRS is based on a handheld swim board concept. It can receive various sensor data and log and display mission critical information. According to a company press release, the DRS “incorporates a high frequency, forward looking sonar search capability with highly accurate navigation technologies, a data recording facility and userfriendly display.”

Also based in the United Kingdom, BAE Systems has deployed the Divers Electronic Beach Reconnaissance Aid (DEBRA). DEBRA is used by the Royal Navy. It consists of a durable, corrosionresistant swim board and incorporates an electronic compass, a Doppler velocity log, and GPS. DEBRA also automatically logs depth and height above the seabed, making it an ideal tool for beach reconnaissance.

Dive Masks

SOF divers typically are forced to conduct missions in areas of extremely poor water visibility, such as harbors, rivers and coastal zones. Reading critical life support status of a rebreather, and/ or any number of other underwater NAV devices or wrist displays can be nearly impossible under such conditions. Not to mention that SOF divers often have their hands full with underwater survey or other gear. This prompted development of the Combat Data Display Mask (CDDM), a joint project between San Leandro, Calif.-based Oceanic, and the U.S. Navy Coastal Systems Station in Panama City, Fla.

The project led to development of Oceanic’s DataMask. Basically a heads-up display for the diver, it allows true hands-free diving. According to company specs, the DataMask contains a “miniature liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, proprietary digital optic system, microprocessor, depth transducer, wireless cylinder pressure receiver, diver replaceable battery and controlling software.”

The mini LCD provides views of depth, bottom time and tank pressure information, while the diver’s eyes can remain focused on the dive environment at all times. The Naval Sea Systems Command has authorized purchase and use of the CDDM by Navy/Marine Corps diving units. The DataMask is currently commercially available from Oceanic Worldwide.

Another SOF dive mask, the Combat Divers Full Facemask, (CDFFM) was recently fielded by the Marine Corps. The CDFFM was designed by Kirby Morgan Dive Systems, based on their KMS-48, a commercially available dive mask. The CDDFM was specifically designed to make it easier for Marines to communicate underwater. With the previously used half masks, Marines had to use hand signals, or other com gear, but the CDFFM allows them to simply talk underwater, just as they would on the surface.

The mask can be used with a number of diving systems, including standard scuba and MK class rebreathers.

Dive Vehicles

In 2000 USSOCOM issued a request for proposal for a new diver propulsion vehicle (DPV). Stidd Systems of Greenport, N.Y., was issued a production contract for their diver propulsion device (DPD) as a result. Ever since, Stidd has been developing and delivering highperformance submersible boats and diver propulsion vehicles for all U.S. special operations forces.

The DPD is still the most widely used military-grade underwater propulsion device in the world. But do not confuse the DPD with recreational underwater scooters. This is a rugged, battle-tested device that, according to the company, “enables SOF divers to travel farther and faster with more payload than with any other diver propulsion vehicle.” The DPD has an operating depth of over 80 meters, and an onboard mission planning and submerged navigation system.

SEAL teams not only use one and two-man DPVs, they still employ a mini-sub. First introduced in the 1970s, the swimmer delivery vehicle (SDV) has gone through a few incarnations. The current and only model deployed is the Mark VIII Mod 1. It is an electrically-propelled torpedo-like craft, which typically operates from a dry deck shelter fitted to a full-size U.S. nuclear submarine.

Four SEALs and two crewmen can ride in the SDV, wearing rebreathers. Once the sub “mothership” has reached its deployment point, the dock floods and the SDV is launched. After a mission, it returns to the docking bay.

The Mark VIII is outdated and reaching the end of its operational life. It was slated to be replaced with the Advanced SEAL Delivery System mini-sub, which would have allowed SEALs to travel without the need to wear diving gear. But the only prototype was destroyed in a fire, and funding to the program was cut.

In 2009 an RFP, solicitation number H92222-10-R-0005, was issued by USSOCOM to replace the Mark VIII with a more modern mini-sub that they refer to as a shallow water combat submersible (SWCS). According to the RFP, “SWCS will require development of an integrated bridge system with a commercial off-the-shelf open architecture, a power and signal distribution system capable of integrating various electronic systems and sensors, and the capability to display operational data to the vehicle pilot and navigator.”

No Safe Harbor

Navy SEALs, Army combat divers, and other SOF divers operate in the most demanding and unforgiving element of any engagement or rescue operation.

“As manufacturers,” said USIA’s Heid, “it’s not our job to tell the customer what they want and what they need to use. Our job really is to ask them ‘OK, how do you want something done,’ and we’ll start working from there. Not always will you meet the customer’s dream, but you can try real hard to get there.”

It is only through the unique combination of training, skills, peak physical condition and commitment by manufacturers to provide them with the most durable, most reliable gear available, that SOF combat divers are able to guarantee there is not a safe harbor anywhere for our nation’s enemies.

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