diff --git a/utils/init-submodules-release.sh b/utils/init-submodules-release.sh
index 159e2f6201..31e4c9f3fd 100755
--- a/utils/init-submodules-release.sh
+++ b/utils/init-submodules-release.sh
@@ -3,13 +3,18 @@
 source ./safeCommandsSet.sh
 
 if git submodule status 2>&1 | grep -iq "fatal: Not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git"; then
+
 safe_cd "$(dirname "$0")"/../external/
-git clone git@github.com:google/googletest.git
-safe_cd googletest/
-git checkout release-1.8.0
+
+git clone --no-checkout https://github.com/nlohmann/json.git
+safe_cd json/
+git checkout v3.11.3
 safe_cd -
-git clone git@github.com:nlohmann/json.git
+
+git clone --no-checkout https://github.com/pboettch/json-schema-validator.git
 safe_cd json/
-git checkout v3.4.0
+git checkout 2.3.0
 safe_cd -
+
+else git submodule update --init;
 fi