HydroSurv and Nordic USV have strengthened their partnership with a 60-month lease agreement for the newly launched REAV-47 platform, marking a significant advancement in uncrewed vessel capabilities. This strategic expansion follows Nordic USV’s successful deployment of the REAV-28 ‘USV Nordy’, which has completed over 100 oceanographic monitoring missions from Bergen in its first year of operations.
The latest vessel, ‘USV Bris’, introduces several groundbreaking features to HydroSurv’s REAV platform line. Equipped with a hybrid powertrain combining a 12kW Mastervolt battery module and 4kW Fischer Panda generator, the vessel achieves an impressive 72-hour coastal endurance. In a first for HydroSurv, the REAV-47 utilises Rim Drive Technologies’ innovative 5kW electric outboards, delivering instant, stepless acceleration whilst minimising entanglement risks.
Pioneering Deepwater Capabilities
Nordic USV will primarily deploy the REAV-47 for CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) profiling operations in Norway’s challenging fjords. The vessel features an upgraded OSIL profiling winch capable of reaching depths up to 1,500 metres – expected to be the deepest achieved by any USV globally to date.
“The REAV-47 represents a quantum leap in remotely operated vessel capability,” said Sander Henriksen, CEO of Nordic USV. “From our Bergen Operations Centre, the REAV-47 will conduct missions up to 1,000 kilometres away, gathering crucial environmental data even in adverse conditions. This unprecedented reach transforms how we monitor coastal ecosystems.”
The vessel is HydroSurv’s first to be equipped with an advanced navigation suite integrating Furuno hardware with TimeZero marine navigation software, enabling enhanced situational awareness for coastal deployment in challenging Nordic conditions. USV Bris continues to utilise the trusted and highly-configurable Dynautics Spectre autopilot, proven effective on previous seagoing REAV-60 vessels.
David Hull, Founder & CEO of HydroSurv commented: “We couldn’t be happier that Nordic USV have placed their trust in HydroSurv to provide USV capabilities for the next five years as they scale their innovative data collection services. Having completed over one hundred missions in the first year with the REAV-28 ‘USV Nordy’, I’m excited to see what Sander and his team will now achieve with ‘USV Bris’, and her sisters scheduled for delivery early in the next year.”
Through 2025, Nordic USV has developed an extensive schedule of operations for USV Bris, which will see the vessel deployed in challenging conditions on extended missions across remote locations, supporting the scaling of Nordic USV’s unique data-as-a-service model for oceanographic and environmental monitoring.
