India selects Kongsberg Maritime AUVs for new hydrographic vessels

Kongsberg Maritime’s HUGIN Superior AUV. India has selected a variant of the HUGIN AUV for the four new hydrographic survey vessels it ordered from GRSE in 2018. (Kongsberg Maritime)

India has selected the HUGIN autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) from Kongsberg Maritime for the new class of hydrographic survey vessels it ordered from Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) in 2018.

India is anticipating the delivery of four new 3,300-tonne survey vessels from GRSE under the contract. The vessel has an overall length of 110 m, and can accommodate a crew of 231. It has been designed for “full-scale coastal and deepwater hydrographic survey of ports and harbours”, said the Indian defence ministry in 2018.

The keel for the first-of-class was laid down by GRSE in November 2019.

Each of the four vessels will be equipped with a HUGIN AUV, which has been incorporated with the company’s HiPAP 502 high-accuracy acoustic positioning and communication system, said Kongsberg Maritime in a 25 September statement.