Nato Submarine Rescue System equipment being loaded onto a C-17A Globemaster. Credit: Crown copyright / UK Ministry of Defence.
  • The RAF ran through its logistical responsibility transporting the Nato Submarine Rescue System in the event of an emergency response
  • Exercise Flying Fish, as the mission is known, demonstrated the A400M’s capacity to load the Nemo Submarine Recovery Vehicle
  • The system is an air-mobile capability shared among France, Norway and the UK

The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) simulated its logistical responsibility in delivering Nato Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) equipment according to a UK Government release issued on 1 September 2026.

As part of Exercise Flying Fish, 350 tonnes of NSRS equipment was distributed among 27 lorries and transported, escorted by a police convoy, across the 365 miles between Glasgow and Brize Norton airbase, where the equipment was loaded into heavy- and medium-lift aircraft simulators.

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NSRS is an air-transportable mini-submarine shared among France, Norway and the UK for the evacuation of stricken submariners from a submarine disabled on the seabed at depths down to 610 metres. The capability can be deployed anywhere in the world, the UK release asserts, which demands highly dependable logistical capacity to respond in an emergency.

Pictured is the ten-metre long “Nemo” Submarine Recovery Vehicle component of NSRS submerged in the loch. Credit: Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy trialled NSRS in a Fort William loch over the course of four days in March this year. Around 150 trained personnel are required to handle the system.

“If a submarine is in trouble we will need to respond fast,” remarked the UK’s defence readiness minister Luke Pollard. “Ensuring we have a tried and tested response is how we can be ready for any eventuality.”

An aerial feat

Once at Brize Norton, RAF personnel loaded the Submarine Recovery Vehicle component of NSRS, a ten-metre long mini-submarine known as “Nemo,” in the back of simulators that replicated the same dimensions and deck arrangement as a C-17A Globemaster and an A400M Atlas.

For the first time, the service proved that some of the heaviest equipment can be air-lifted in an A400M.

NSRS equipment loaded in the back of an A400M Atlas simulator. Credit: Crown copyright / UK Ministry of Defence.

The A400M is a unique solution that operates on the lighter side of heavy lift but with all the tactical trimmings of insertion on unpaved airstrips and cruising at low altitudes despite its 37-tonne payload capacity. The aircraft blurs the line as a ‘strat-tact’ transporter, which is significant since the A400 can reach places the C-17, a conventional strategic airlifter, cannot.

NSRS is delivered on behalf of the Royal Navy, Marine Nationale, and Royal Norwegian Navy by the Submarine Delivery Group with JFD Global as the service contractor.

Both loading events were conducted by the specialist RAF team at the Joint Air Delivery Test and Evaluation Unit.