Kongsberg Maritime’s Marine Robotics department has provided a three-week training of Hugin AUV systems set up on Indonesian Navy’s new survey ship program.

The introduction training was conducted at a hotel in Central Jakarta, and the last week was at sea in Semangka Bay for practical training down to depths of 1000 metres.

The training objectives for the crew before embarking for the sea trials ranged from system understanding to inertial navigation and advanced mission planning.

“Language barriers made the training challenging,” says chief AUV instructor Stian Hopmark, “luckily, this was compensated for by the students having an extraordinary interest in the subjects and willingness to learn.”

OCEA, the French shipbuilder that built and delivered the two survey ships has stated that they are very pleased with Kongsberg Maritime’s efforts during the training. “Both crews have gained a lot of experience and feedback on their Hugin AUV system, in a very high level of expertise provided by the Kongsberg team. Goals of operator training have been reached above expectations,” says Julien Lagadec, OCEAs representative in Jakarta.

The Head of Delegate from the Indonesian Navy, Colonel Budi, said: “We are in many ways pioneers using such advanced survey equipment in South Asia. This is just the start”.