Saab AB on Tuesday unveiled Sea Wasp, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) aimed at identifying, relocating, and neutralizing underwater improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Presented at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition in National Harbor, Md., the company said the product is designed to combat underwater terrorism.
Saab produced the Sea Wasp by combining technology from its Seaeye line of commercial ROVs and capabilities previously developed for the company’s military systems portfolio. It also worked with the U.S. Underwater Hazardous Devices Response Community to adopt its purposes and procedures for Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD).
“Sea Wasp is a hybrid of pre-existing Saab technologies that can now be applied to an urgent worldwide need. Underwater EOD is a rapidly growing niche around the world, and Sea Wasp’s capabilities correspond to that niche,” Bert Johansson, sales director for underwater systems in the company’s dynamics business area Dynamics, said in a statement.
Saab said most current underwater IED threats are disposed of manually by trained EOD divers. The Sea Wasp system, by contrast, is remotely operated by two-person teams at a safe distance.
Saab partnered with the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO) to test Sea Wasp by providing prototypes to three agencies that work on EOD: the U.S. Navy EOD Group 2, the FBI Counter-IED Unit, and the South Carolina law Enforcement Division’s Counter-Terrorist Operations Maritime Response Unit. The agencies have received training for the device and will carry out testing and evaluation over the next 10 to 12 months, Saab said.
“The U.S. unmanned underwater vehicle market is very important for Saab. Our goal with Sea Wasp is to meet U.S. national security needs with an underwater, anti-IED device that keeps EOD teams safe,” Jon Kaufmann, vice president of naval programs as Saab North America, added.