The Seafox is an anti-

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

remotely operated vehicle A remotely operated underwater vehicle (technically ROUV or just ROV) is a tethered underwater mobile device, commonly called ''underwater robot''. Definition This meaning is different from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the ai ...

(ROV) manufactured by German company

Atlas Elektronik Atlas Elektronik is a naval/marine electronics and systems business based in Bremen, Germany. It is involved in the development of integrated sonar systems for submarines and heavyweight torpedoes. The company was a subsidiary of BAE System ...

to locate and destroy ground and moored mines. There are two versions and a training version. The orange Seafox-I "inspection" variant has sonar and an

Inertial navigation system An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (dire ...

, and the black Seafox-C "combat" round has a 1.4 kg

shaped charge A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to form an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Different types of shaped charges are used for various purposes such as cutting and forming metal, ini ...

warhead. The system is in service with eleven navies across seventy platforms.The SeaFox is an advanced design of an Expendable Mine Disposal Vehicle or EMDV. The SeaFox comes with a control panel to help the user locate and destroy the mines. The SeaFox has a low life cycle cost meaning it has very low maintenance costs and does not cost much to rebuild if destroyed. The main target for the SeaFox is unexploded mines that pose a danger to ships and other vessels that might travel along the route. The SeaFox communicates with the ship via a fiber-optic that connects into a TV for the captain to view the mine. The Seafox also has a special launcher and retrieval system that it uses. Together the console and launcher help navy's around the world conduct damage estimation, route surveys, maritime boundary control, intelligence and harbor surveillance missions. The SeaFox primarily uses a transponder called dead reckoning. Dead reckoning is a pressure sensor on the SeaFox. The Seafox Drone has also been used on the MH-53 helicopter.

Service history

In 2001 the Royal Navy leased some Seafox drones for use on HMS ''Bangor'' and HMS ''Blyth'' off Iraq as part of Operation Telic. The ''Bangor'' also deployed them off Libya in 2011. in October 2015 the Naval Surface Weapons Center (NSWC) commissioned the Atlas North America to get more SeaFox vehicles.

Technical Specifications

The operational depth for the SeaFox C is between 0 meters and 300 meters. The SeaFox has a range of 1200 meters depending on acoustic and current conditions. The propulsion system on the Seafox includes four horizontal propellers and one vertical thruster. The entire propulsion system is battery powered. The maximum speed of the SeaFox is 6 knots. The SeaFox can be controlled with a remote or can be set on automatic and it will use radar and sonar to locate mines and other obstacles that it is tasked with clearing. The SeaFox has live CCTV feed and a high intensity searchlight. the CCTV feed it ran through the fiber-optic cable that is about 3000 meters long. The SeaFox was launched off the boat or ship using a crane. This crane is also how the SeaFox I was put back on the boat or ship. the warhead of the SeaFox is a fully shaped charge and has demonstrated effective against incendiary devices.

References

External links

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Atlas Elektronik - Minehunting and Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)

navaldrones.com Mine warfare countermeasures Remotely operated underwater vehicles {{Mil-stub