U.S. Navy Seeks New Technology to Extend Survival Aboard Disabled Submarines
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Naval Sea Systems Command has opened a new two-year research solicitation aimed at extending survival and improving rescue from disabled submarines, with projects planned for fiscal 2028 and 2029. The September 23 Broad Agency Announcement, N00024-27-S-0001, asks researchers to develop faster ways to assess submarine atmospheres at pressures up to 6 atmospheres absolute, investigate ways to accelerate or potentially eliminate saturation decompression, examine how starvation, dehydration, sleep deprivation and gas narcosis affect decision-making at 2-5 ATA, and develop countermeasures for heat stress in environments containing 2.5-3% carbon dioxide. NAVSEA also wants improved decompression procedures for survivors recovered by Pressurized Rescue Module or Submarine Rescue Chamber, including the ability to fully decompress survivors inside the PRM if necessary. The same solicitation seeks advances in diving beyond 300 feet of seawater, oxygen-toxicity mitigation, wearable underwater acoustic dosimetry, helium reclamation and emergency breathing-gas equipment operating above 5,000 psi. These research areas continue work pursued under previous Navy BAAs, but the September 23 notice opens a new FY2028-29 funding cycle and defines the problems NAVSEA wants industry, universities and researchers to address next.
The Research Target Is the Time Between Casualty and Safe Recovery
A disabled submarine can become a pressurized, hot and contaminated hyperbaric environment. NAVSEA's new research window focuses on keeping survivors functional inside that environment, transferring them through a rescue system and returning them safely to normal atmospheric pressure.
NAVSEA wants rapid and accurate measurement of critical gases inside a pressurized disabled submarine at pressures reaching six atmospheres absolute.
The Navy wants data on decision-making under combinations of starvation, dehydration, sleep deprivation and gas narcosis.
Heat-stress research is specifically requested under increased temperature, humidity and elevated carbon-dioxide conditions.
The new BAA will support research beginning in the fiscal 2028 and fiscal 2029 funding cycles.
Five Problems NAVSEA Wants Researchers to Push Further
Rescue planners need reliable information about gases and internal pressure before determining how survivors can be safely recovered.
Prolonged confinement can combine dehydration, lack of food, lost sleep, heat and gas effects while survivors still need to make critical decisions.
NAVSEA is explicitly seeking methods that could accelerate or potentially eliminate saturation decompression after prolonged exposure to elevated pressure.
One research objective is development of procedures capable of fully decompressing pressurized survivors inside the Pressurized Rescue Module when required.
The solicitation seeks physiological limits and body-cooling countermeasures for high temperature, humidity and elevated CO₂ inside submarines and rescue vehicles.
Casualty assessment, critical care, triage, survivor movement and tracking inside the Navy's rescue and recompression system are all included in the research call.
The Navy's Undersea Rescue Command operates the PRM-1 Falcon, which can mate with a disabled submarine at depths up to 2,000 feet and recover as many as 16 personnel per trip. URC states its goal is to conduct open-hatch rescue anywhere in the world within 96 hours of alert.
Disabled-Submarine Survival: The Problems Behind the BAA
The solicitation spans physiology, sensors, decompression science, medical care and rescue-system procedures rather than concentrating on a single piece of hardware.
| Research Area | NAVSEA Target | Specified Environment | Underlying Problem | Potential Research Disciplines |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atmosphere Assessment Survival | Rapidly and accurately determine critical Submarine Escape Action Limit gases inside a disabled submarine. | Internal pressure up to 6 ATA. | Rescue planners need trustworthy atmospheric information before deciding how long survivors can remain aboard and how they can be recovered. | Gas sensors, analytical chemistry, hyperbaric instrumentation, rugged electronics and decision-support software. |
| Oxygen Toxicity Physiology | Develop new methods to mitigate pulmonary and central nervous system oxygen toxicity. | Pressurized disabled-submarine conditions. | Increased oxygen can help decompression but creates its own physiological limits at pressure. | Hyperbaric medicine, pharmacology, physiology and respiratory medicine. |
| Saturation Decompression Major Target | Accelerate or potentially eliminate saturation decompression, including approaches using greater oxygen exposure. | Survivors exposed to elevated internal pressure for extended periods. | Long decompression schedules can complicate rapid recovery of multiple survivors. | Decompression modeling, hyperbaric medicine, gas physiology and pharmacological intervention. |
| Decision-Making Human Factors | Determine how starvation, dehydration, lack of sleep and gas narcosis alter decision-making. | 2-5 ATA. | Survivors may need to operate equipment, manage atmosphere and make rescue decisions after prolonged physiological stress. | Human factors, cognitive science, undersea medicine and behavioral physiology. |
| Heat & CO₂ Thermal | Establish physiological heat limits and evaluate body-cooling techniques. | Up to 5 ATA with increased temperature, humidity and 2.5-3% CO₂. | Heat retention, humidity and restricted cooling can increase physiological stress during prolonged confinement and rescue. | Thermal physiology, cooling technology, protective equipment and environmental control. |
| PRM / SRC Decompression Rescue | Reduce decompression-sickness risk after saturation dropout or aborted decompression. | Pressurized Rescue Module and Submarine Rescue Chamber operations. | Survivors transferred under pressure may require controlled decompression before returning to normal atmospheric pressure. | Hyperbaric medicine, oxygen pre-breathing research, treatment protocols and rescue-system engineering. |
| Decompression Inside PRM Procedure | Develop procedures to fully decompress pressurized rescuees inside the rescue module if required. | PRM rescue environment. | Keeping decompression within the rescue vehicle could provide another option when normal transfer-under-pressure procedures cannot be completed as planned. | Rescue medicine, chamber operations, gas management and decompression modeling. |
| Casualty Care & Triage Medical | Improve critical care, casualty assessment, triage, survivor holding, movement and tracking. | Navy SRDRS rescue operations. | A mass rescue can involve patients with different pressure exposures and medical conditions moving through a constrained rescue system. | Emergency medicine, medical logistics, patient tracking, triage systems and hyperbaric care. |
The Same BAA Also Pushes Deeper-Diving Technology
NAVSEA wants decompression models validated across Navy diving operations extending beyond 300 feet of seawater.
New emergency-gas flasks, hoses and regulators are sought for pressures exceeding 5,000 psi.
The Navy wants more efficient helium recovery and compact gas-mixing systems for mixed-gas and saturation diving.
Compact adaptive acoustic dosimeters are sought to measure diver exposure to underwater noise and long-term auditory hazards.
NAVSEA says awards under these BAAs have historically averaged around $300,000 or less annually. It is not a mandatory ceiling.
Typical projects are expected to run two years or less, although three-year projects may be considered.
FY2028 research begins in the cycle starting October 1, 2027. FY2029 work begins with the cycle starting October 1, 2028.
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