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Hydroid Littoral Battlespace Sensing AUVs Enter Full-Rate Production The Hydroid Inc.���s (Pocasset, Massachusetts) contract to provide the U.S. Navy���s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) with Littoral Battlespace Sensing (LBS) AUVs has moved from the engineering development model phase to full-rate production. In response to this approval, SPAWAR has ordered the immediate production of three LBS AUVs (based on the REMUS 600) and one Shipset, including a launch and recovery system (LARS), a LARS fat rack, a mission van, a maintenance van and vehicle support equipment. The U.S. Navy decided to move to full-rate production after more than a year of testing, determining that the LBSAUVs were ready for deployment. The end user of these AUVs is the Naval Oceanographic Offce. Company Gets First ABS 2009 Approval for Forgings Over 500-MM diameter Used in Subsea Mooring First Subsea (Lancaster, England) has been awarded the American Bureau of Shipping���s ABS 2009 approval for its subsea mooring connectors. It is the frst manufacturer of offshore mooring connectors to achieve this type approval for the design and manufacture of large-scale forgings bigger than 500 millimeters in diameter. The approval applies to First Subsea���s Ballgrab ball and taper mooring connectors manufactured from steel-grade 4330V forgings up to 510-millimeter outside diameter. The subsea mooring connectors can be used with R3-, R3S-, R4-, R4S- and R5-grade chain and shackle. First Subsea collaborates with the University of Sheffeld���s Institute for Microstructural and Mechanical Process Engineering (IMMPETUS) to research the manufacture and testing of 4330V forgings. EIVA Sponsors Study Program at The College of Charleston, University of Washington EIVA (Hasselager, Denmark) has entered into a partnership with the College of Charleston and University of Washington on the BEAMS (benthic acoustic mapping and survey) Programme. The partnership revolves around internships at EIVA���s headquarters in Denmark and an annual three-day training workshop, taught by EIVA instructors, where the EIVA software suite is put to use at both the College of Charleston and University of Washington. This program will center on knowledge sharing and training the next generation of surveyors. NCS Survey Takes Delivery of Two Gavia AUVs NCS Survey (Aberdeen, Scotland) has expanded its AUV feet with the purchase of two Teledyne Gavia ehf (K��pavogur, Iceland) AUVs. The AUVs are used to provide ultrahigh-resolution data for pipeline and platform inspections, scour monitoring surveys, cable and pipe route surveys, and offshore wind farm surveys. For three years, NCS Survey has operated these vehicles in diffcult access and remote areas, including the southern tip of Argentina. The vehicles are rated to 1,000 meters but regularly operate in depths as shallow as 2 meters. They can perform in currents of more than 2 knots, under jackup drilling rigs and very close to fxed platform structures. n www.sea-technology.com FEBRUARY 2013 / st 73