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May 2005
(May 13, 2005 – Pocasset, MA) Hydroid Inc. announced today that they have recently received a multi-year contract from the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence for ten REMUS Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) systems.
Hydroid has teamed with QinetiQ and Babcock Design & Technology on the Ministry of Defence contract. QinetiQ will play a major role in the provision of logistic and service support, utilizing its expertise in UUV technology to maintain and service the vehicles and its waterside trials facility for training, testing and acceptance. QinetiQ will also play a major role in all of the in-country service and support requirements over the five year Contractor Logistic Support period following acceptance into service of the AUV systems early in 2006.
Commenting on the recent contract Phil Jenkin from the U.K. Mine Countermeasures Equipment IPT of the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) said: “REMUS will enable the Royal Navy to undertake rapid mine reconnaissance in the Very Shallow Water (VSW) zone an area which, currently, is accessible to divers only. Employing REMUS will reduce the risk to clearance divers during operations in the detection and clearance of maritime mines."
In addition to undertaking hydrographic surveys and environmental monitoring for the Royal Navy, REMUS can be deployed in a general search and salvage role in support of humanitarian operations involving both military and civilian authorities. REMUS was selected by the DPA to provide a VSW Mine Countermeasures (MCM) capability following a thorough and competitive procurement process, which considered operational effectiveness, safety, support and whole-life costs.
Hydroid delivered (2) REMUS systems to the United Kingdom in 2003 to support a DPA funded VSW AUV Equipment Technology Demonstrator Program. This examined the utility and effectiveness of AUV technology and identified a baseline capability that would contribute to providing a VSW MCM capability.
Kevin McCarthy, Hydroid’s vice president of marketing noted that “With systems presently in use in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and soon in Belgium, Hydroid is successfully expanding the REMUS technology into NATO navies.”
McCarthy goes on to report, “The contract with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence represents a major milestone in Hydroid’s growth, and in the continuing world-wide acceptance of the REMUS technology. The REMUS systems that will be delivered to the Ministry of Defence will be transitioned into the Royal Navy for fleet use. This contract represents the first time a navy outside of the United States is procuring systems not for evaluation, but rather, for fleet use to conduct mine countermeasure activities.”
Hydroid Inc. holds the exclusive license from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for the manufacture and further development of the REMUS Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) technology.
For further information contact Kevin McCarthy, Vice President of Marketing at Hydroid at Tel 508-563-6565, e-mail [email protected].
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