Vogo, Gangwon-do, South Korea, is a developer and manufacturer of rescue boats, patrol boats, manned submersibles and deep diving systems for military, naval and homeland security applications and reports to have more than 30 years of experience in distributing dive equipment for Navy and other special forces. The company recently displayed information on several submersibles with specific special operations mission applications.
With room for three divers, the SDV340 is a battery-operated electric submersible with a main purpose to deliver divers and equipment to the target by using electric thrusters. SDV340’s maximum speed is six knots, but at three knots the SDV340 has an endurance of about 90 nautical miles. Just under 26 feet long, the submersible weighs a little more than 3.4 tons.
A larger brother is the SDV1000W, a diesel-electric submarine without pressure hull. This wet swimmer platform can carry up to 10 team members (2 crew, 8 divers). On the surface the SDV1000W has a range of about 150 nautical miles and while submerged is capable of 20 nm. Top speed is 45 knots (surface) and five knots (submerged). Duration submerged, traveling at 3.5 knots, is roughly six hours. When in snorkeling mode, the platform can travel at about 8 knots for 60 nm. Length is a little more than 42.6 feet and the weight is about 4.5 tons.
A final submersible that Vogo is offering is the SDV200W Cargo, which seems to fill the purpose of its name—an underwater truck. A submerged duration of six hours, a surface speed of 40 knots, a range of 150 nm on the surface and 20 nm submerged, this two-crewman platform is a multipurpose vehicle.
Shock Dampening
Scanfiber Composites A/S of Denmark has released information on a flexible ballistic protection mat consisting of filaments of glass fiber (preferably E-glass), aramide, polyethylene (preferably PE-UHMW polyethylene) or other high-strength fibers. The filaments are aligned generally parallel to one another in layers. The filaments of one layer cross the filaments in an adjacent layer, or form a woven fabric, with a plurality of layers of said fabric being placed on top of each other to form a mat.
In an outline, the ballistic mat comprises 16 layers of aramide fiber woven fabric (simple cross weave) with a fabric weight preferably in the range from 100 g/m2 to 800 g/m2, with a filament diameter preferably in the range from 6 to 20 [micro]m, the filaments having a linear density preferably in the range from 400–5,000 in both directions of the weave.
The intent is to reduce the overall blast effect and provide some level of ballistic protection by a factor of at least 10.
Better damping effect factors can be achieved; for example, combining a 15 mm mat of ballistic protection material comprising aramide with a 30 mm layer of shock damping material can readily lead to a peak acceleration of 410 g and thus to a damping effect factor of 19.
According to the company, the mat can be adapted to be mounted on virtually any vehicle, whether a light utility vehicle or a heavy armored vehicle. The material is shapeable to completely cover the floorwells of the vehicle as well as areas deemed critical to survival. ♦