Ten more Falcons fly away to Russia

JSC Tetis Pro is the largest company in Russia specialising in the design and manufacture of diving and subsea equipment for commercial, military and search and rescue operations.

Most of the ten ordered will be used for civil defence emergencies and dealing with the consequences of natural disasters. They will be installed aboard search and rescue vessels, ready to survey for objects using multi-beam sonar.

Two will also go to EMERCOM, the Russian Centre of Preparation, to be deployed aboard a Russian Naval vessel.

Earlier Falcons have been used in a wide variety of roles across Russia, explained the head of ROV at Tetis, Dmitry Voytov, including survey and inspection work; icebreaker support work where they are fitted with a detachable five-stage manipulator skid for light work tasks; preparing underwater cargo ready for lifting; undertaking pipeline free-span monitoring; carrying out mine detection prior to pipe-laying; marine biology work; and deployment within the Russian Navy.

He said they were used during failure of the Sayano-Shushenkaya hydro-electric power plant; and helped to recover victims when the Bulgaria sunk and when an aircraft crashed in Teletckoe lake.

“Quick reaction is often essential, which is why we need, small, mobile systems that can be thrown into whatever area of operation is needed”, he concluded.

With over 260 Falcon ROVs in use around the globe, its success has come from being small enough to manhandle into the water, yet powerful enough to hold steady in strong cross currents and operate tooling of all kinds. For survey work, the Seaeye Falcon has the advantage of a low electrical and acoustic noise signature that allows for optimum survey sensor data.

Half of the Falcons ordered by Tetis this time round are the Falcon DR, deep rated to 1,000m, and others the standard 300m rated Falcon.