Wescom Group, a leading global supplier of survival and safety solutions, will showcase a range of new products at this year’s SMM alongside its established portfolio of SOLAS pyrotechnics, marine safety electronics and pharmaceutical solutions, including bespoke vessel medical requirements.

The soon to be available, sMRT SHIELD+ PLB, is the first personal locator beacon on the Cospas-Sarsat 406 MHz rescue network to combine global distress alerting with localised recovery through two-way DSC. This provides nearby vessels with an additional distress alert and AIS location information and enables the user to receive an acknowledgement that their distress call has been received.

Building on the expanded global reach and accuracy of the MEOSAR programme and Galileo Return Link Service (RLS), the sMRT SHIELD+ combines the speed of localised rescue capabilities with the reach of the worldwide professional Search and Rescue system coordinated through the 406 MHz network.

Visitors to the Wescom Group stand will also be able to see a preview of the sMRT SHIELD + EPIRB. Offering the first fully compliant IMO MSC.471(101) beacon with integrated DSC, AIS, Infrared and Return Link Service (RLS), the SHIELD+ EPIRB will be available in early 2027.