The NATO has organised a submarine escape and rescue exercise called Bold Monarch 08. The exercises are currently taking place off the coast of Norway in the Northern Skagerrak area. Demonstrating the importance of a pan-national, global rescue capability, the exercise is testing submarine escape and rescue personnel, equipment and procedures from fourteen nations (eleven NATO countries plus Russia, Ukraine and Israel).
Three submarines, one from the Netherlands, one from Normway and one from Poland will be bottomed with full crew to simulate a submarine disaster.
Rescue forces with a range of sophisticated rescue vehicles and systems from France, Italy, Norway, the Russian Federation, United Kingdom and United States together with specialist divers including Submarine Parachute Advisory Groups (SPAG), which parachute divers into the sea above a sunken submarine in order to establish communications, will take part.
Also being tested are medical teams, support and salvage ships and aircraft from Canada, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine. All these elements will work together to solve complex rescue and medical problems in a variety of demanding scenarios.
The exercise is using three submarine escape and rescue vessels; the Russian AS34, the American Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System (US SRDRS) and the new NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) which is a joint Norwegian, French and British project.
