The HUGIN Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Forward Mine Hunting Operations

Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) technology holds great promise for many applications, in the military as well as the civilian communities. To maximise synergism, the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) has teamed with civilian interests for its ambitious underwater vehicle program. This has led to a self-supporting industrial basis in Norway for commercial exploitation of the untethered underwater vehicle technology. Two generations of HUGIN systems have been developed by FFI in collaboration with Norwegian industry. The HUGIN vehicles have been operated commercially, primarily for the offshore oil and gas industry, since 1997, establishing daily operational real-life experience which is fed back to the development community to facilitate exploitation in a wide range of areas. The HUGIN Mine Reconnaissance System (HMRS) will be the first military realisation of the HUGIN AUV technology. This paper describes the concept of forward mine hunting, the technical solutions, and the capabilities of this application.

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