The Portuguese Navy has tested an artificial island as part of Exercise ‘REPMUS 24'. (Janes/Neil Dee)
The Portuguese Navy, through its Operational Experimentation Centre (Centro de Experimentação Operacional da Marinha: CEOM) has tested an artificial island concept as part of NATO's Exercise ‘REPMUS 24' (Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping with Unmanned Systems 2024).
The artificial island was developed as a prototype for a larger system that the navy plans to use in the Infante D Henrique Free Technological Zone off the Portuguese coast in waters 80 m deep but that can also access the Setúbal Canyon that stretches to a depth of 1,300 m. The prototype, a small barge, is intended to test potential features of the future island and identify challenges, Captain António Mourinha, CEOM director, said in a briefing to media and observers at the exercise site in Tróia, Portugal, on 23 September.
The island is capable of collecting, processing, and storing ocean data, using ocean water to cool its computers and servers to improve environmental efficiency, and acting as a base for unmanned surface and underwater unmanned systems, Capt Mourinha said. Bottom surveys by mine-countermeasures (MCM) teams using unmanned systems were among the operations undertaken from the island, he added.
In a news article on the island on the Portuguese Navy's website, it said that the island was also equipped with underwater sensors to support unmanned systems as well as sensors capable of detecting nearby objects and providing warning of suspicious activities. Images accompanying the article showed REMUS autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) being deployed from the island.
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