For Marine divers, high-tech future is now

[unhappycamper]

For Marine divers, high-tech future is now
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 7, 2008 7:31:32 EDT

Decades ago, James Bond faced off against Cold War-era foes who jetted around underwater with motorized swimming devices in the 1965 movie “Thunderball.”

High-tech combat scuba gear appeared again more recently in “The Rock,” a 1996 movie with fictional Navy SEALs using small propulsion packs for their underwater mission — attacking Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.

Now, the Corps is pulling ahead of Hollywood as it bulks up on sophisticated combat diver equipment to offer recon Marines a new set of tools for coastal operations.

For years, the Corps has trained recon Marines at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, Fla., but its operational capabilities remained limited. Now, the new equipment will outfit the Corps more on a par with Navy SEALs and allow leathernecks to conduct underwater missions in littoral regions.

The shift began a few years ago when the Corps started moving beyond diving fins and aerobic swimming. The breakthrough was the Diver Propulsion Device, a two-man metal tube with a propeller designed to help divers swim at speeds of more than three miles per hour.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/04/marine_divers_040508w/