Mine and IED Neutralisation HAUV

The current practice for hull mine/IED identification and neutralization involves sending divers to scan the hull for targets and, when found, to mark them and neutralise them manually. The Bluefin Team, consisting of Bluefin Robotics, Oak Ridge National Laboratory of Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Orca Maritime of San Diego, California, proposes to accomplish the task with an HAUV-N equipped with a high-precision manipulator arm and a video camera. The AUV will be capable of maintaining station at the target while a remote operator neutralises the device, thereby keeping divers out of harm's way and completing the task more expeditiously.

Development of HAUV began in 2002 as an Office of Naval Research (ONR) program to automate hull searches. HAUV's development has undergone a series of developmental steps, culminating with the successful demonstration of 100% non-complex area coverage in 2008. In 2011, Bluefin was awarded a USD30 million contract modification exercising the production option for the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Hull Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Localisation System (HULS).

The Office of Naval Research is the contracting office for the Joint Service Explosive Ordnance Disposal program.