DRDO develops new-gen man-portable autonomous underwater vehicles for mine countermeasure missions

New Delhi, Nov 14 (IANS) A new generation of Man-portable Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (MP-AUVs) have been successfully developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam, the Ministry of Defence said on Friday.

The system comprises multiple AUVs equipped with side scan sonar and underwater cameras as primary payloads for real-time detection and classification of mine-like objects, the ministry said in a statement.

The onboard deep learning based target recognition algorithms enable autonomous classification, significantly reducing operator workload and mission time.

Additionally, a robust underwater acoustic communication has been integrated to facilitate inter-AUV data exchange during operations, ensuring enhanced situational awareness, it said.

The recently concluded field trials at NSTL/Harbour have successfully validated salient systems parameters and critical mission objectives. Multiple industry partners are involved in system realisation, and the system will be ready for production in the next couple of months, the statement added.

Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and DRDO Chairman, Dr Samir V. Kamat, hailed the NSTL team for the successful development of MP-AUVs, terming it as a major milestone towards a deployable, intelligent, and networked mine countermeasure solution.

“It offers rapid response capability with reduced operational risk and logistic footprint for naval mine warfare applications,” he said.

Earlier last month, advancing the Gaganyaan mission, the DRDO developed as well as tested specialised food and parachute systems for the Gaganyatris.

Gaganyaan, India’s first human spaceflight, is scheduled to launch in 2027. The mission will carry astronauts to low Earth orbit for a three-day mission and bring them back safely to Earth.

Speaking to IANS, on the sidelines of the DRDO Industry Synergy Meet in Bengaluru, Dr B.K. Das, Director General of Electronics and Communication at DRDO, said that from developing products and technologies for the armed forces, the premier institute has also spread its wings into the space domain with ISRO.

–IANS

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