Remotely Operated Vehicles for Real-time Intervention

ROVs will remain a required capability in a “balanced force” for Offshore Oil & Gas for many years to come. Any work that requires subsea intervention: e.g. opening & closing valves, welding, cutting and salvage will always require an operator with real-time control. Recent innovations have focussed on global remote control and smart tools. AUVs are seen as useful for tasks such as survey or pipeline inspection and will enable new capabilities such as subsea resident systems using subsea docking stations.

In the MCM context, AUVs can provide the capability for Search, Classification and Identification. Disposal will (for at least the next decade) require ROV capability for real-time control to lay a counter-mine charge very near to a mine. Close proximity is required in order to achieve sympathetic detonation of insensitive munitions and close proximity in high-current, low visibility conditions can only be achieved with real-time control of a powerful ROV. A ROV capability also provides Navy with options for subsea intervention including salvage, black-box recovery and inspections.

A One Shot Mine Disposal System (OSMDS) is a ROV that must be controlled in real-time by an operator, dangerously close to a mine. It is not a “fire & forget guided missile.” These systems, while useful in benign conditions, are unlikely to be successful in the harsh conditions encountered in Australian seas (above and below water). If they are operated from a small boat close to a minefield it is a high-risk situation for the crew with a low probability of success.

AUVs are best-suited for search due to their hydrodynamically efficient torpedo-like shape. This design makes them unsuitable for low-speed control close to a mine. The shape of an ROV with multiple thrusters enables precise control for intervention and disposal tasks. Innovations on combining the two capabilities include hybrid AUV/ROV and SAROV.

Read more: SeaWasp ROV for Counter IED 

Saab Semi-autonomous ROV (SAROV) Trials in Jervis Bay in 2007 demonstrated the capability for the existing RAN Double Eagle Mine Disposal System to be upgraded to provide a combined ROV/AUV capability.

The Sea Wasp ROV represents a significant change in underwater operations against IEDs be enabling bomb technicians to conduct underwater intervention for both improvised and conventional munitions.