Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) approved the Navy’s only Saturation Fly Away Diving System (SATFADS) for sustained operations after completing a 30-foot wet certification of the launch and recovery system in Panama City, Fla, on Sept. 26.

The Saturation Fly Away Diving System (SAT FADS) is designed to provide a mobile and worldwide capability for deepwater sustained diving operations. SATFADS can support six saturation divers for a period of 21 days, with an additional nine days of decompression.

 

“This effort is a culmination of more than two years of hard work and collaboration within NAVSEA.  It allows our divers to train in a real-world environment that would not have happened if not for the detachment’s technical proficiency,” said Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU), Saturation Detachment, Master Diver Bill Dodd.

NEDU’s mission is to partner with the warfighter to develop timely, cost-effective solutions to support and/or improve manned operations in undersea and other extreme environments through research, development, test and evaluation of diving, hyperbaric, life support, submersible systems and procedures.