Coast guard

A new unmanned autonomous submarine has been developed to detect explosive mines hidden in shallow coastal waters such as ports and harbours.

BAE Systems introduced the 50kg vessel called Talisman L, which uses high-definition forward and sideways looking sonar and an array of multi-view cameras.

The mini-sub has the ability to zoom through water at a top speed of more than five knots and maintain the manoeuvrability to turn within its own length.

The vessel can operate at depths of 100m for up to 12 hours, but Andy Tonge, head of the underwater unmanned vehicles activity at BAE Systems, said the Talisman L’s real strong point is its capabilities in shallow water.

‘Shallow water presents a lot of very difficult challenges,’ he added. ‘While most people will ask how deep a system will operate at, we’re trying to go the other way and work out just how shallow we can make our systems work. We’re able to operate in the odd one or two metres of water.’