JFD acquires Ortega Submersibles to further enhance its advanced swimmer delivery vehicle offering

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21 August 2019

JFD, the world leading underwater capability provider serving the commercial and defence diving markets, and part of James Fisher and Sons plc, has today announced its acquisition of all the assets, IP and designs rights of Ortega Submersibles BV, the Netherlands-based submersible boat designer and manufacturer.

The acquisition will enable JFD to expand further its offering of advanced Swimmer Delivery Vehicles (SDVs) and to develop new vehicles and capabilities in order to meet increased market demand for specialised small and medium-sized craft.

JFD, through its subsidiary JFD Ortega BV, will retain Ortega´s office and manufacturing facility and its whole team of designers and engineers at the established operational base in Enschede, The Netherlands.

JFD will also add to its existing SDV manufacturing capability based in Vaxholm, Sweden, and expand its offering to include new vehicle designs that will allow Special Forces operators to safely conduct covertly challenging missions.

Giovanni Corbetta, managing director, JFD, said: "Deploying Special Forces operators into their field of operations always has its challenges, but when it comes to covert operations in the open sea, safe insertion and extraction to and from the field takes on an even greater level of complexity and importance. Divers can become easily fatigued and exhausted if exposed for long periods in the open water, particularly where there is a need for submarines and surface vessels to be kept as far away from the area of operations as possible in order to avoid detection.  This often requires divers to swim great distances unless there is an SDV capability in place suitable for their mission requirements.

"JFD´s SDVs primarily exist to facilitate the safe insertion and extraction of special operations forces and equipment. They have been developed with the needs of today’s operations in mind, enabling us to offer navies a broad range of vehicles to suit a variety of mission types and deployment methods. Through our acquisition of Ortega Submersibles, we will be able to expand our SDV offering, particularly for fully electric smaller and medium sized boats, to ensure that Special Forces operatives have the means to safely insert and extract themselves from any operation and under any mission requirements. The partnership will strengthen the synergies between the two companies, whilst allowing engineers and designers to share their knowledge and experience to ensure there is an optimal SDV capability that meets the market’s needs for specialist submersibles.”