The Royal Navy visited Saab Seaeye to view the company’s range of underwater vehicle technology designed for maritime defence.
A delegation led by Commodore Alex Burton, head of Maritime Capability, toured the facilities at Fareham, which have recently doubled in size since the opening of a second factory building.
The Navy say they are looking for innovative mine disposal systems beyond those currently in service. They are particularly interested in the potential offered by unmanned systems coming from Saab Seaeye’s new range of hybrid underwater vehicles.
There is a growing demand from the Royal Navy for both autonomous underwater vehicles and remotely operated vehicles, and Saab Seaeye has long supplied navies around the world with vehicles of different sizes and capabilities for various tasks, including mine warfare, search & salvage and submarine rescue.
During the visit the delegation saw a demonstration of a Falcon ROV operating a ballista mine neutralisation system.
Hosting the visit was Saab Seaeye’s managing director, Jon Robertson and defence sales manager, Chris Lade. Amongst those involved in the visit were Commander Mark Atkinson, Fleet Mine Warfare, Diving and EOD Future Capability, Royal Navy; Bert Johansson, sales director defence, Saab Seaeye; Peter Hultin, managing director, Saab Technologies UK and Alex Alderson, director futures, Saab Training at Westbury.
The visit comes as Maritime Capability moves from London to the Navy Command Headquarters at Portsmouth.
[mappress] Press Release, April 02, 2013