NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE, France, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Britain's Royal Navy is now accepting into service Thales U.K.'s submarine distress beacon following a trial period, the company announced Tuesday.
Thales U.K., part of the Thales Group of France, said more than 100 Submarine-ejected Emergency Positioning Indicating Radio Beacon buoys will be used in all classes of Royal Navy submarines, including the new Astute class.
The SEEPIRB has been developed for submarines to provide distress alerting and position information via radio transmissions on a satellite-aided tracking frequency.
The message transmitted by the beacon is unique for each unit, thus providing identification of the transmitter. "Once the search and rescue forces are alerted via the satellite-aided tracking network, they can converge on the confirmed position," the company said.
"Intermediate and short-range location is aided by the SEEPIRB's onboard locator beacon."
SEEPIRB can be launched from standard submerged signal ejectors at maximum operational depth and submerged speeds of up to 15 knots. No programming of the SEEPIRB is required.
