The US Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded an operational capability upgrade contract to Teledyne SeaBotix through distributor Atlantic Diving Supply (ADS).
Under the multi-million dollar contract, Teledyne will supply 60 units of SeaBotix vLBV300 remotely operated vehicle (ROV) systems for explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) mobile units worldwide.
The vLBV300 has undergone extensive mechanical development, which involved the examination of its pressure zones, moment arms, centre of gravity and meta-centre.
Teledyne SeaBotix president William Kikendall said: “The systems perform a variety of critical functions for the military but also serve to keep the men and women of our military out of harm’s way.
“Teledyne SeaBotix and its employees, many of whom are retired military, are exceptionally proud to supply such critical equipment to the armed forces.”
The new SeaBotix vLBV 300 systems will be equipped with a range of commercial off the shelf (COTS) equipment, including the company’s tracked crawler attachment skid, imaging sonar, altimeters and ultra-short baseline (USBL) / global positioning system (GPS) navigation capabilities.
These systems will also be equipped with the Teledyne Marine autonomous ROV navigation package, SmartFlight.
In addition to EOD, Teledyne SeaBotix ROVs are used for a range of purposes by military and security forces.
The company is involved in the production of underwater observation class MiniROVs for use in tasks, such as maritime security, search and recovery, pipeline and infrastructure inspection, hazardous environment intervention, aquaculture, sensor deployment, and research and nuclear applications.