Warship Technology eNews January 2021
Subsea Craft and BAR Technologies have provided an update on the construction of VICTA, an advanced diver delivery unit they have been working on. The concept was first highlighted in the March 2020 issue of Warship Technology.
As principal partner, BAR Technologies has been integral to the shape and form of VICTA, designing and optimising the hull and control system, which enables the vessel to be operated on the surface and submerged.
BAR Technologies and SubSea Craft began collaborating on the development of VICTA in 2018. The first VICTA is currently in ‘finishing,’ where the carbon fibre hull is completed prior to receiving a synthetic, coloured outer ‘wrap’.
This important step will provide VICTA’s streamlined shape, reduce its acoustic signature and assure watertight integrity, essential features for a craft designed to operate at speed on the surface before submerging rapidly to transit discreetly below the surface.
As highlighted in the March 2020 issue of Warship Technology, the innovative craft’s hull is constructed from carbon-fibre and Diab core to yield an efficient strength-weight ratio design. Being built at AC Marine and Composites in Gosport in the UK, the hull can withstand the wide range of surface and sub surface loads that are dictated by the mission profiles.
Easily transportable to and within an operational theatre, and inter-operable with the most commonly employed lift assets, the VICTA is designed to operate independently of large, costly support units. It is compatible with a standard ISO shipping container and can easily and discreetly be moved to an area of operation. It can also be transported within the cargo bay of standard air-transports, most typically, the Lockheed C130 Hercules, or underslung from heavy-lift helicopters, typically the Boeing CH-47 Chinook.
Now in its final fit-out, VICTA is due to undertake comprehensive trials and testing in 2021.
Although primarily aimed at the defence market, SubSea Craft and BAR Technologies believe the VICA concept also has potential elsewhere, in the leisure, research and security sectors.
