The Navy incorporates a modern unmanned vehicle for long-term underwater work and rescue at great depths
The Navy launches in the waters of Cartagena one of its most important technological acquisitions in recent years: the unmanned underwater vehicle ‘Leopard’, capable of working continuously 24 hours a day without the need to take it out of the water and at depths of up to a thousand meters, more than impossible conditions for a diver.
The machine, purchased through NATO’s procurement and logistics hub, the NSPA, is one of the most advanced electric underwater robots in its class. In the words of the commander of the ship ‘Neptuno’ (A-20), where it was embarked, it is an unmanned vehicle “of the 21st century”. Lieutenant Commander Antonio Gutiérrez Albert recalled that this new ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) replaces the ‘Scorpio 03’, “from the 1980s and which has been retired due to obsolescence”. The testing phase began in February and it will soon be fully operational. Its pilots have been trained in an ROV school in Barcelona and complete their training with the manufacturer, both to operate the machine and to maintain it.
Reduces human risks
Essential to its acquisition, among other issues, was the forthcoming incorporation of the S-80 submarines. Said robot, from the Saab Seaeye house, expands the number of skills and, therefore, reduces the risks that divers have to assume in underwater rescue operations. Among them, to provide ventilation of the atmosphere inside a submersible at great depths until the arrival of the definitive rescue means, as well as to carry out work in a more reliable and prolonged way without the need to expose the ship’s diving team. . “The diver is more versatile for some jobs, but this machine can work at greater depths and for a longer time on the bottom,” said Gutiérrez Albert.
According to the commander, the fact that the robot has “eyes, nose and arms” contributes to this. Because the ‘Leopard’ has different positioning subsystems, as well as detection and tracking of an objective through four color and black and white image cameras (the eyes), four LED spotlights and two sonars (the nose): one multibeam and another 3D, essential in underwater searches and sweeps.
A pilot and a co-pilot are in charge of all the operations from the modular control cabin, also on board the ‘Neptune’, although prepared to transfer it to any other platform together with the robot. This is what will happen when the underwater intervention maritime action vessel (BAM-IS), which is already being built by Navantia in Cádiz, comes into service. Within two years it must replace the old but updated A-20, built in 1975 as a civil tugboat and in service since 1999 with its current role.
One of the great advantages of this machine is its two manipulator arms that, like the claws of a crab, can perform four and seven movement functions with great force and precision. In addition, it has radial cutting and shearing tools under the sea, skills that can be essential in rescue support and underwater rescue operations.
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