A Turkey-based defense technologies firm has developed a new electric underwater drone for applications including military reconnaissance, surveillance, intelligence gathering, support for submarine defense warfare and destruction of explosives to civil inspection of pipelines and geophysical research.

The STM NETA 300 from the defense firm Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Ticaret A.Ş (STM) is an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) that is currently in the pool and sea testing phase, with plans to make the underwater drone operational soon.

Source: STMSource: STM

Taking its name from the naval term NETA — which means proper, safe and always ready — the drone is compact enough to be carried by just two people and can operate at depths of 984.2 ft and reach a maximum speed of 5 knots (5.75 miles per hour).

With a battery that allows it to operate for up to 24 hours on a single charge, the drone is expected to be used specifically for mine countermeasure operations. According to its developers, the drone can scan underwater areas for potential mines using side-scan sonar and gap-filling sonar, which enables the drone user to detect, classify and identify mine or mine-like objects rapidly.

Because the STM NETA 300 can be launched from just about any surface platform and quickly deployed to the mission area, it can also be used in search and rescue operations.

Further, the drone can be tailored for civilian use and deployed for applications including seabed and environmental assessment, pipeline inspection and observation, geophysical research and observation, examination of offshore renewable energy sources and marine archaeology, among others.

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