Exercise Torpedo Buoyancy (Recovery) System

Retrieval of field exercise torpedoes by the US Navy requires an inflatable Buoyancy Recovery System (BRS). The current hot gas system is expensive to operate/maintain with expended material and is labor-intensive to refurbish. Systima is proposing a new, lower cost torpedo buoyancy system which eliminates the need to cleanout the byproducts of the inflation system, the associated inflation system solid propellant grain costs, and assembly/operation complexity of the current solid propellant based torpedo buoyancy systems. The Systima inflation system approach is estimated to provide a cost savings in excess of $1,000,000 per year. By utilizing modern, refillable, high pressure composite gas bottles as the energy source for inflation of the system, a lightweight, high performance system is engineered which also features improved handling and logistics due to the lack of explosive components. Robustness is enhanced through a differential pressure control system and deployment features are designed to provide safer, easier retrieval by naval personnel.