Italian firm Drass unveils DG550 midget submarine.

Drass has been designing and manufacturing diving systems since 1927. She headquartered in Livorno, with production facilities in Italy and Romania and sales offices in Dubai, has over 200 direct employees. The Italian firm unveils during EDEX 21, the DG550 midget submarine in Cairo.

A model of Drass DG550 submarine (Picture source: Army Recognition)

The design of Drass DG550 is based on an operational concept which makes this craft extremely similar to an SSK conventional submarine despite its compact dimensions.

The unique flexibility of the Drass Design allows the Final User to configure this craft for many missions covering the entire range dedicated to a conventional submarine.

The craft is designed to spend almost 80% of its life in operation, limiting the maintenance period to 20% of the life span.

As a significant evolution from the smaller Drass Midget Submarines e.g. DG160 Midget, the DG550 is designed to overcome the limit of Shallow Waters (200 mt. depth) with a significant increase in endurance and dive range.

Despite displacing around one fourth of a conventional diesel electric submarine, Drass DG550 Compact Submarine provides similar attack potential, able to load and launch up to 4 latest generation 533mm wire-guided Heavy Weight Torpedoes.