New design features by VIKING make their latest defence liferafts one step ahead in protecting naval forces

The Swedish Navy has just installed the latest in VIKING's liferaft design onboard their naval vessels.

VIKING is already the supplier of choice for marine life-saving equipment onboard European naval vessels. The VIKING product portfolio onboard includes automatically self righting life rafts, dry shod evacuation systems such as slide and chutes, various types of lifejackets, working and survival suits, and body armour.

The special three new design features on these specially designed liferafts help make evacuation easier and safer, and reduce search and rescue times.

Evacuees need rapid and easy access to intact life-saving equipment and they need to be found and rescued as quickly as possible. VIKING's new boarding steps, fragmentation safe containers and NIR lights help keep evacuated marine personnel as safe as possible until help arrives.

Fragmentation approved containers protect the life-saving equipment inside
Defence vessels face a special challenge in life-saving equipment. Vessels can come under enemy fire and marine evacuation equipment is vulnerable to damage from fragmentation. Life-saving equipment is often the last option at sea during rescue, and it is imperative that it is protected from hostile fire, ready for use. Only VIKING liferafts are packed in fragmentation approved containers, giving them the maximum possible protection according to the required test standard.

Special boarding steps get evacuees out of the water faster and safer
Getting out of the water and boarding the liferaft quickly is essential in helping prevent the onset of hypothermia, especially in cold waters. Hypothermia reduces reaction times and impairs judgement - critical factors in life preservation whilst awaiting rescue. Even brief immersion in cold water is enough to make it difficult to concentrate and has a diverse effect on dexterity.
Unlike conventional liferafts, VIKING's new liferaft design has a unique boarding step system. Two stairs inflate automatically in the water at the entry point. They are designed to remain firm and stable in the water and allow evacuees to simply step into the liferaft. VIKING’s new boarding steps make the entering and access to the liferaft from the water as easy as walking up a stairway. In an emergency situation, fast easy access to liferafts saves valuable time and helps to remove personnel from a potentially hypothermic situation.


NIR lights make liferaft recovery at sea faster and easier
Evacuees' lives are only really saved when they have been located and rescued. Making the liferaft visible, even in poor conditions, is key to rapid location. The further away the light is visible, the easier it is to find evacuees in their liferaft.

VIKING has added NIR, or Near Infra Red, lights to their liferafts for the Swedish Navy. NIR lights can be seen significantly further away, making rescue faster and easier. NIR lights cannot be seen with the naked eye. They are viewed with special binoculars, already installed on the majority of search and rescue vessels and helicopters, and can be seen a far greater distances than conventional lights, and can dramatically reduce search and rescue time.