SIGNATURE INDUSTRIES SIGN IMPORTANT NEW AGREEMENT WITH
CHINA LINK TO ADDRESS THE MARKET IN CHINA FOR SARBE LOCATOR BEACONS

Signature Industries are pleased to announce the appointment of UK-based China Link Company Limited to represent their interests in China relating to sales of the SARBE 10 Submarine Personal Locator Beacon.

Submarine crew safety is of great concern to the Chinese Navy particularly following an accident in May 2003 which was reported to have killed 70 submariners. The Chinese Navy has between 40 and 100 submarines, many of which are ageing. Signature Industries’ SARBE 10 Submarine Personal Locator Beacon (SPLB) is ideally suited to rescue crew from a stricken vessel as the beacon is carried by evacuating crew. Once activated, the beacon transmits an internationally recognised distress signal on 121.5MHz & 243MHz, in addition to a digital data transmission on 406MHz which contains the identity of the beacon.

As soon as the distress signal is detected by the COSPAS/SARSAT satellite network, rescue services are alerted and a rescue mission commenced. The COSPAS/SARSAT alert will give an area of search once rescue aircraft are within range and the SPLB “swept tone” transmissions allow the Search and Rescue (SAR) aircraft to “home in” on the beacon location to effect a pickup of the crew.

It was reported in 2002 that the Chinese Navy was in negotiations to buy eight 636 Kilo Class submarines from Russia and these vessels will be in addition to the two that China has already purchased.

In addition to introducing the SPLB to the Chinese Navy, it is anticipated that China Link will utilise its contacts in China to introduce SARBE G2R, Signature Industries latest Personal Locator Beacon, which was launched at the Paris Airshow earlier this year. The highly advanced G2R is a dual mode SAR and Combat Recovery beacon utilising programmable frequencies, GPS and encryption.

For further details, contact:
Brian Clayton, SARBE, Tom Cribb Road, Thamesmead, London SE28 OBH
TEL: 020 8316 4477 FAX: 020 8316 6218
EMAIL: brian.clayton@sarbe.com

or

Karen Mascarenhas, MASCARENHAS PR TEL: 020 8488 5949
FAX: 020 8333 6466
EMAIL: karen@kmpr.co.uk
WEBSITE: www.kmpr.co.uk