WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Navy has ordered new submarine escape immersion suits worth some 49 million U.S. dollars from the Ohio plant of a British company, the U.S. Department of Defense said Thursday.
"RFD Beaufort Inc., Sharon Center, Ohio, was awarded a maximum 49,046,703-dollar firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for submarine escape immersion suits," the Pentagon said in a statement.
The contract is a three-year base one with two one-year option periods, it added.
Submarine escape immersion suits designed by British manufacturer RFD Beaufort Ltd are whole-body suits that allow submariners to escape from a stricken submarine and provide extensive protection for the submariners on reaching the surface until rescued.
Following a nearly 30-year hiatus, the U.S. Navy re-instituted pressurized submarine escape training for submarine crew members in 2009.
