DRDOs indigenous man-portable AUVs mark major step in autonomous mine countermeasures

A new generation of man-portable Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (MP-AUVs) has been successfully developed by the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam, under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), for mine countermeasure missions. Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO, Dr Samir V Kamat, said, The MP-AUV offers rapid response capability with reduced operational risk and logistic footprint for naval mine warfare applications. The system comprises multiple AUVs equipped with side-scan sonar and underwater cameras as the primary payloads for real-time detection and classification of mine-like objects. The onboard deep learning-based target recognition algorithms enable autonomous classification, significantly reducing operator workload and mission time. To ensure enhanced situational awareness, a robust underwater acoustic communication has been integrated to facilitate inter-AUV data exchange during operations, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) added. The recently concluded field trials at NSTL/Harbour have successfully validated the systems salient parameters and critical mission objectives. Multiple industry partners are involved in system realisation, and the system will be ready for production in the next couple of months. Dr Samir V Kamat has also complimented the NSTL team for the successful development of MP-AUVs, terming it a major milestone towards deployable, intelligent, and networked mine countermeasure solutions.