James Fisher Defence (JFD), a global provider of specialist marine and defence solutions enabling mission success at sea, has achieved Conformité Européenne (CE) certification for its Stealth Multi-Role® (SMR) rebreather, marking an important milestone in the continued advancement of the company’s military diving capability.
Since its unveiling in 2025 development activity and operational testing has been undertaken to validate the system’s performance across a broad range of dive conditions and it is now ready for release to the market.
As military diving operations become increasingly complex, defence forces are seeking life support systems capable of supporting longer endurance missions, enhanced operational flexibility and high levels of reliability in demanding underwater environments. Developed in collaboration with operational stakeholders across global defence forces, SMR has been precision engineered to address these evolving requirements while prioritising diver safety, usability and operational reliability.
With a compact and improved ergonomic design, SMR has been engineered to support mobility and usability throughout extended duration operations, allowing divers to focus on their mission with confidence that their equipment will remain fully operational. Its modular, multi-role configuration is intended to enable operators to adapt the system across different mission profiles while maintaining consistent performance in operating environments where there is zero margin for error.
“Modern military diving operations place increasing demands on life support systems, particularly during prolonged or complex missions where reliability and adaptability are critical,” Peter Laughton, Head of Defence Diving – Military Products at JFD, said. “Through the continued development of Stealth Multi-Role®, JFD is applying decades of operational life support expertise to support the evolving needs of defence diving communities.”
Richard Devlin, Managing Director, James Fisher Defence, added: “Building on more than four decades of established life support experience, Stealth Multi-Role® leverages JFD’s unique insight gained by supporting defence diving contracts across the world, having sold thousands of systems to global defence forces and often with integrated support services which assure full operational availability.
“Following CE certification of Stealth Multi-Role®, we look forward to continuing engagement with operators and demonstrating its capabilities in support of future military diving requirements.”
JFD brings extensive experience and specialist technical capability to global maritime and defence operations and is a trusted partner to multiple international navies. Through the continued development of the SMR life support system, the company is reinforcing its commitment to safety, operational assurance and the ongoing evolution of military diving capability.
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