zoomPhoto: JFD

JFD, a part of James Fisher and Sons, has partnered with the United States (US) Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Centre – Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) in the development of an advanced combat diver navigation module, the Shadow NAV, bringing a hands-free underwater navigation capability to the military market.

The Shadow NAV is fitted to a diver’s standard half mask and provides a clear visual display of a combat diver’s compass heading, depth, and time even in near-zero visibility conditions.

Danny Gray, Products & Support director at JFD, said: “The Combat Diver may have a significant amount of essential equipment to carry while conducting missions. Traditional kit such as the compass and depth gauges not only increases the amount of equipment required, but, more critically, they are of little, or no use in water with very limited visibility, even with auxiliary illumination. This puts the diver at too great a risk of injury or even fatality.

“To address these challenges for potentially dangerous underwater combat missions, the expert technical team S3D at the NSWC PCD worked to develop a small, low-cost, low-power enhanced navigation capability to significantly improve safety standards for military divers and give them the best possible chance of successfully completing their missions. In bringing this to market, JFD will be making this capability widely available to divers operating across the globe.”