Following the success of the Digital Horizon 22 Unmanned & Artificial Intelligence Exercise organized by the U.S. Navy in Bahrain, Exail Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV), DriX, was selected by the 5th fleet’s task force 59 to take part in the two-week 2023 International Maritime Exercise (IMX 23), that will be held in Bahrain and Jordan from March 5th to 16th.

ARMADA Marine Robotics is pleased to announce that it has won a SBIR Phase II contract from the US Navy to continue development of an External Payload Delivery System (EPADS) for cylindrical Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs). The contract is for $1M over 2 years with an Option for another $1M over 2 additional years. The project extends work previously performed by ARMADA under a SBIR Phase I and work by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) who will collaborate with ARMADA on the project.

HII and Ocean Aero initiated a strategic agreement to advance the combined capabilities of their respective unmanned maritime platforms and autonomy software solutions. The unmanned solution providers recently commenced multiple, simultaneous efforts to enhance the operational reach and duration of the platforms, collaborative autonomy behaviors, shared sensor fusion and perception capabilities, and accelerated seabed-to-shore data transmission methods.

HydroSurv has won funding from Innovate UK to continue working with the University of Plymouth to enhance its technique of using Uncrewed Surface Vessels (USVs) to map seagrass coverage on the seabed.

Ocean Robotics Planet Magazine Issue 34: Featuring the Events Calendar and Welcome to Ocean Robotics Planet - iXblue and ECA Group Merge to become Exail - Aberdeen based Hydro Group Celebrates 40 Years - The Missing Puzzle Piece for Reliable and Renewable Subsea Power - TF59: Digital Horizon Naval Exercise - Naval Oceanography: Pathfinders of the American Military (Part 1) - Battling a Blue Arctic - Poster: Allseas Designed Pilot Nodule Collector Vehicle - NORI and Allseas Lift Over 3,000 Tonnes of Polymetallic Nodules to Surface - Blue Nodules Harvesting at a Depth of 5.5km - Oceanscan: Specialised Personnel, Services, and More - Mind the Gap: The Amphibious Autonomous Tracked Vehicle Standing its Ground in the SURF Zone - Satellite AIS: A Boon to Ocean Robotics - SubmergeDeep: A Multifunctional Heat Transfer and Hydraulic Fluid for Marine Electric Vehicles - Maintaining Operational Advantage through Increased Maritime Awareness - Great Balls of Fishy Firelight - subROV Underwater Discoveries.

Saab UK’s Fareham-based Seaeye business hosted local MP, Suella Braverman, 24th February 2023, as she visited their new site that is bringing jobs and investment to Fareham.

Success across the UK’s £8billion underwater industry was celebrated in Aberdeen this week at the Subsea Expo Awards. The prestigious black tie dinner saw over 500 guests gather at P&J Live in Aberdeen to applaud the achievements of companies and individuals working across the oil and gas, decommissioning, offshore energy, defence, aquaculture and marine science sectors. The event formed part of the three-day Subsea Expo exhibition and conference.

Subsea Craft (Subsea) – a British advanced maritime technology company – has today announced its first international research and development (R&D) partnership, with AMC Search (AMCS), the training and consultancy division of the Australian Maritime College (AMC), an institute of the University of Tasmania.

Saipem and Seaway7 today announced that they have entered into a commercial collaboration agreement to jointly identify, bid and execute fixed offshore wind projects. Saipem and Seaway7 will pursue selected projects where the combined utilisation of the companies’ complementary world-class assets, technologies, products and competencies will generate significant synergies and improve project economics.

Following a four-year gap due to the pandemic, Oceanology International Americas (OiA) burst back onto the ocean technology scene last week with a perfectly pitched and well received balance of debate, innovation and thought leadership.

Fugro’s Blue Essence®, a 12 m uncrewed surface vessel (USV), has received approval from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to operate the first USV with an electrical remotely operated vehicle (eROV) in UK waters.

Rovco has successfully completed a contract awarded by Well-Safe Solutions to support its well plug and abandonment decommissioning operations in the Southern North Sea. This is the second contract that the leading provider of subsea and hydrographic survey projects has secured with Well-Safe Solutions, having previously performed survey work on an abandoned subsea wellhead in UK waters in 2021.

Forum Energy Technologies (FET) has secured a significant order from DOF Subsea to deliver four of its advanced work-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). The ROV order comprises of two 200HP XLX-C’s, which have recently been delivered and successfully mobilised in late 2022, as well as two 200HP XLX Evo II’s to be delivered in Q2, 2023. The XLX Evo II’s hydraulic systems have been redesigned in line with this contract and now share a vastly increased quantity of common component parts with the XLX-C’s, providing a customer benefit for spares commonality and subsequent availability.

Subsea resourcing specialist DRIFT Offshore, which provides people and expert support services for projects internationally, has struck a partnership agreement to deliver technical training on Seatronics' industry-leading VALOR ROV system.

Representatives of the world’s underwater industry will gather in Aberdeen this week for Subsea Expo 2023. Around 6,000 visitors are expected to attend the three-day exhibition and conference which gets underway on Tuesday morning at the city’s P&J Live and runs until Thursday. The event’s theme this year is Into the Blue.

Scientists at Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) are investigating the potential climate change mitigation benefits of farming seaweed alongside offshore wind arrays.

Phoenix International Holdings, Inc.’s (Phoenix) commercial ship husbandry division recently responded to a call from a 330-meter tanker that suffered major propeller damage in Corpus Christi, TX in 60ft of water.

Following a successful first day, Oceanology International Americas (OiA) expo and conference got down to the serious business of networking, partnerships, change delivery and real-world scenarios on Day 2.