Hydroid to Provide Six REMUS AUVs
For German Navy 
After trials by the German Bundeswehr Technical Center for Ships and Naval Weapons (WTD 71) in Eckernförde, Germany, the Federal Office of Defence Technology & Procurement has placed a contract for six REMUS 100 AUVs manufactured by Hydroid Inc. (Pocasset, Massachusetts) to enhance the capabilities of the German Navy’s mine divers. >> Read more

VT Halter Marine, DCNS Team Up on USCG Proposal
VT Halter Marine Inc. (Pascagoula, Mississippi) and DCNS (Paris, France) have partnered to submit a proposal to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for the design and construction of offshore patrol cutters for the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). VT Halter Marine will be the prime contractor and DCNS will be its exclusive subcontractor for the offshore patrol cutter platform design. >> Read more

Smart Tether Used in Bathymetry and Biotope Survey In Saudi Arabia
Submerged Recovery and Inspection Services (Seattle, Washington) recently assisted King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in using a VideoRay (Phoenixville, Pennsylvania) Pro4 ROV to complete more than 200 kilometers of bathymetry and biotope survey transects in the Red Sea.
>> Read more

MacArtney Inc. Opens Fourth Office
In North America
The MacArtney Underwater Technology Group (Esbjerg, Denmark) opened on Tuesday an office on the U.S. West Coast located in San Diego, California, forming the fourth branch of its North America-based subsidiary MacArtney Inc. (Houston, Texas). MacArtney West Coast will serve the underwater technology requirements of major OEM, offshore, ocean science and defense stakeholders in California. >> Read more

Q&A: Coralbots, Heriot-Watt University
Researchers at Heriot-Watt University are developing coralbots, a swarm of intelligent robots to help save coral reefs. Scottish corals are threatened by adverse impacts of bottom fishing that damages and kills large areas of reef. At present, this process of regrowth is assisted by volunteer scuba divers reassembling coral fragments on the reef framework. But the method has only limited success because they cannot spend long periods underwater nor reach depths of over 200 meters where some of the deep-sea coral grows.

The swarm of autonomous underwater robots will operate according to a simple set of "micro-rules" to seek out coral fragments and recement them to the reef.

The idea for the project, which is led by Dr. Lea-Anne Henry, with professor David Corne, Dr. Neil Robertson and professor David Lane, was born at a brainstorming session of an interdisciplinary research training event where Henry and Corne came together "in a 'research speed-dating' dance," Corne said. Henry had long had the idea of using robots to help repair coral reefs, and Corne figured that swarm robotics would make it possible.

Sea Technology magazine recently asked the team about how the project is progressing. >> Read more

Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm Opens
The Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm off the coast of Norfolk, England, was officially opened last Thursday. Sheringham Shoal is owned equally by Statoil (Stavanger, Norway) and Statkraft (Oslo, Norway) through the joint-venture company Scira Offshore Energy Ltd. (Norfolk, England). The opening took place four years after Scira was granted consent by the U.K. government to build the wind farm and three years after construction began. >> Read more

BOEM Lease Sale to Offer 38 Million Acres in
Central Gulf for Oil and Gas Exploration, Development
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will offer 38 million acres in the Central Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas exploration and development, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced last Monday. This sale will build on two major Gulf of Mexico lease sales in the last year—a 21-million-acre sale held last December and a 39-million-acre sale held in June. >> Read more