What If Navy Life Vests Had Radio Tags?

By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter

What if a U.S. Navy carrier experienced the same fate as the Korean patrol ship Cheonan that sank in the West Sea, Friday night? Who knows? But one thing is probably sure; there would be far fewer missing crewmen.

In the wake of the Cheonan disaster, South Korean rescue teams are struggling to find scores of missing sailors out of the crew of 104 despite intensive searches of the relatively shallow seabed over the past few days.

Under the same conditions, U.S. Navy personnel would have been easily located since they wear life jackets whose positions can easily be pinpointed when they fall overboard.

Domestic experts point out that traceable life jackets are available here too, thanks to advanced radio tag technology based on radio frequency identification (RFID). But they were not available for the crew of the Cheonan.

"When wearing life jackets equipped with radio tags, drifting sailors on the surface can be easily found. Even when they are under water," said an official at the Korea Association of RFID & USN.

The Korean Navy also thought of embracing life vests with radio tags ― carrying out tests on such cutting-edge items in 2008 and asking for data from their manufacturers earlier this year.

However, the plan was torpedoed due to a lack of funds - such a high-tech jacket is reportedly priced at around 150,000 won. It would take about 1.5 billion won to provide the life vests to the 10,000 seagoing crewmen of the Korean Navy.

Rep. Lee Jin-sam of the minor opposition Liberty Forward Party regretted this.

"The Navy mulled over the traceable life jackets, which help rescue ships find missing sailors even in bad weather. Maritime police have already adopted them," Lee said.

In this climate, calls are expected to rise for the new life jackets with water-resistant radio tags to be provided to the Navy so that they can better deal with any accident.

Their logic: It is better to shut the stable door even after the horse has bolted. But it seems that financial investors move much faster than the Navy.

The share prices of Victek, a Korean company with RFID technologies, rocketed on Monday without any other reason excluding the controversies regarding radio tag-equipped life vests.

When contacted, the U.S. Seventh Fleet said that not all U.S. Navy members wear life jackets with positioning-system equipment.

But its personnel that work in high-risk positions with a high possibility of going overboard do so.

For example, sailors on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier wear life jackets equipped with a device dubbed the man overboard indicator, which it said improves the capability during search and rescue operations to find an individual who has gone overboard.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr

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