JFD has launched a safety upgrade to its Stealth rebreathers range that should reduce the potential for incidents when switching to bail-out gas during mine countermeasures and explosive ordnance disposal (MCM-EOD) operations, as well as other underwater missions.
The new dual mode bite mouthpiece is said to be an industry-first technology that enables divers to switch between JFD’s Stealth closed circuit mode and a bailout gas supply without having to remove their mouthpieces.
This transition between primary and secondary gas supplies reduces divers’ risk of incident in the event that they need to switch gas supplies, JFD said.
According to JFD, the dual mode bite mouthpiece eliminates the previous necessity for divers working in extreme and unpredictable conditions to manually remove their mouthpiece to change from rebreather to bailout gas. The new mouthpiece has been tested to achieve full compliance to all relevant standards to 100msw and allow integration into all existing and new Stealth systems, which includes both Stealth CDLSE, Stealth SC and previous variants, further enhancing diver safety and system commonality that allows full compatibility with additional systems such as the External Breathing System (XBS) and Surface Supply Bail-Out System.
Giovanni Corbetta , managing director, JFD, said: “ The launch of the dual mode bite mouthpiece marks an important milestone in our ongoing programme of upgrades to JFD’s Stealth rebreathers range, all aimed at continually setting new benchmarks in underwater life support technology and diver safety standards. This latest innovation dramatically improves the outcomes for divers who find themselves without gas in the most extreme and challenging environments, enabling them to focus on their missions without being distracted by concerns over equipment reliability .”