4 days.
Three mine-like objects to be remotely neutralised in c. 150m of water.
That was all in a morning's work for our VALOR ROV, on a trip to San Diego in August.
Mission complete in 3 hours and 25 minutes and in the roughest sea day of the week.
The run was part of the Mine Countermeasures Modernisation Prize Challenge, launched by the US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) with the Department of the Navy. The brief was to find mature commercial technology that can locate and neutralise sea mines from a safe stand-off distance, keeping sailors and divers out of the threat zone.
More than 80 companies applied, only 11 were selected for on-water testing, and Rovtech was one of them.
VALOR has established its place in the offshore energy sector, where ROVs have has spent more than 50 years keeping North Sea oil and gas infrastructure running in some of the harshest subsea environments. After providing systems to two allied navies, we put that experience to a naval test in San Diego.
Here's four reasons why I'm convinced that offshore engineering could be mine countermeasures' secret weapon.
In the North Sea, kit that only works in a flat calm is kit that doesn't work. Our participation in San Diego ended up being some of the roughest sea days, with high currents and low visibility. This could have some ROV pilots breaking out in a sweat, but our system was designed and built specifically for harsh subsea environments, with station-keeping abilities surpassing its competition in the market. Letting VALOR fly itself, means less time piloting and more time to think.
Despite the challenging subsea conditions, VALOR still located, identified and completed a simulated neutralisation on all three targets in just 3 hours 25 minutes. It held station even in high currents, navigated challenging visibility utilising the Oculus Sonar, all whilst carrying the Viper EDS disposal package (in a custom 4-shot skid solution), meaning no operational downtime and no need to 'reload 'in between detonation simulations.
Navies need ROV capability that they can trust to perform in real sea states and potentially dangerous operating environments, not just controlled demonstrations in calm waters.
Offshore energy began moving to remote operations years ago, because sending divers down is slow, expensive and dangerous. The industry relies heavily on ROVs, and continues to expand the range of scopes that can be done remotely, without divers.
This is exactly what VALOR was built for, and navies are now making the same shift as the offshore energy sector. NATO nations are on a mission to make maritime operations 'uncrewed wherever possible; crewed only where necessary' - a core focus of the AUKUS Pillar || initiative.
In San Diego, the DIU challenge was build around this goal of detonating mines from a safe stand-off distance. VALOR was piloted entirely from a shore-based operations centre, which was set up and online in just a few hours.
But the promise of remotely operated vehicles and unmanned service vessels doesn't mean removing human judgement. Rovtech brings the operating experience; not just the hardware. Our pilots stayed in full control from start to finish, making the calls that mattered in real time.
For MCM teams, fully remote operations remove people from the most dangerous part of the job, while operators keep full control of the task.
In the offshore energy sector, most ROV work revolves around inspection and asset integrity, giving operators a clearer picture of what's happening underwater. For the most part, pilots spend their time monitoring pipelines, subsea structures and seabeds through the cameras and sensors of the vehicle, then deciding if further work is required.
VALOR's digital architecture brings navigation, real-time data and diagnostics to a whole new level, with station-keeping abilities that allows pilots to capture data as clearly as possible. That means reduced pilot workload and makes every action more consistent.
Mine countermeasures depends on exactly the same skill. It's not enough to detonate blindly when the subsea environment is shared with marine life and energy infrastructure. Before anything is neutralised, the pilot has to be absolutely certain what the object in front of it is, and operate with careful, calculated control.
The DIU challenge tested exactly that skill. The brief wasn't just to find mine-like objects. It was to positively identify each one before anything was neutralised. In San Diego, our team worked through three targets at three separate locations, around 150m down, and confirmed each one before acting - this is made very simple with the automations build into VALOR's control system.
For offshore operators, buying a new fleet of ROVs can be more hassle than it's worth if it can't seamlessly integrate with your existing infrastructure. To avoid operational downtime, it's essential that any new tools equipment can work with what is already on decks and can be mobilised quickly. Deck space is a premium in offshore energy.
In the defence sector, we know it's not much different. VALOR has already proven itself on a national navy deployment where it was launched and piloted from a naval control centre and recovered remotely from a 12m autonomous service vessel that was already part of the navy's fleet.
The challenge set by multiple navies is to find mature commercial technology that could be in operational use within weeks or months, not years and without the reliance on procuring new, expensive and long lead time vessels. VALOR is modularly designed to integrate with the uncrewed surface vessels already in service and in development.
For USV manufacturers, VALOR provides a competitive edge, turning an unmanned vessel into the full package for MCM operations. And for navies, VALOR is essentially a plug-and-play solution, ready to deploy with an existing fleet of vessels.
I want to thank DIU and the US Navy for the opportunity. Demonstrating alongside people who do this job for real is the most useful feedback our engineering and operations teams can get.
San Diego was one milestone in a busy year for Rovtech in the defence sector. We are supporting several programmes right now, and we will have more to share very soon.