The Dutch Ministry of Defense partnered with Fugro for subsea mapping and monitoring

The Dutch Ministry of Defense announced that it has completed collection of subsea data in the North Sea with use of Fugro’s Blue Essences class USV. The aim was to check the modern Fugro solutions of mapping and monitoring critical underwater infrastructure for marine security and surveillance.

Fugro provided for the project unmanned surface vehicle Fugro Orca and also performed analyses on, among other things, the effect on data quality. The USV was tested under various weather conditions, such as at higher speeds and wave heights of the water. As result of project Dutch Ministry of Defense not only received a detailed picture of part of the seabed critical infrastructure, but also gained experience in performing such operations carried out by a civil party.

Number of participants contributed to the project: from Dutch Ministry of Defense, this included the Seabed Security Experimentation Centre (SeaSEC), the Hydrographic Service and the Mine Service of the Royal Netherlands Navy, Maritime Systems department of the Materiel Command and IT, The Netherlands Coastguard (Kustwacht Nederland) and the Northern Naval Capability Cooperation.

Mapping of the infrastructure on the North Sea seabed will be continued and will provide an important contribution to the safety of the Netherlands.

⚙ USV Fugro Orca specifications:
? Designer\Builder – SEA-KIT International
? Model – Fugro Blue Essense \ SEA-KIT X-Class series
? LOA – 12 m
? Beam – 2.2 m
? Draft – 2.3 m
? Operating speed – 4 knots
? Endurance – 17 days
? Power system – 2 x 18kW 48 V DC
? Propulsion – 2 X 10 kW / 1200 rpm
? Connectivity – Satellite/Wi-Fi/4g/radio link
? Radar – Simrad
? Payload – Fugro Blue Volta eROV

?? Source: Dutch Ministry of Defense