Oceaneering International’s Subsea Robotics and Aerospace and Defense Technologies segments have been awarded a multi-million-dollar contract by the US Department of Defense to build a Freedom™ AUV and establish an onshore remote operations center (ROC) for the US Navy.
Oceaneering says its Freedom AUV offers the data resolution and completeness of coverage in a single pass usually only obtainable using an ROV, but with the speed and mission efficiency of a traditional AUV.
The vehicle will be manufactured at Oceaneering’s Morgan City, Louisiana, facility.
After conducting a demonstration of the AUV for the Navy earlier this year, Oceaneering hailed its role in the progression of U.S. defense capabilities for maritime defense and preparedness. “Ultimately, advanced UUVs will supplement submarine fleets by conducting autonomous sensing and delivering payloads in challenging, dispersed, deep-sea environments.”
Oceaneering has conducted remote operations of commercial subsea robotic systems from ROCs since 2015 and has performed over 120,000 hours of remote operations to date. This recent contract award will bring this commercial capability to the US Navy.