Lucknow: Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) signed a tripartite MoU with Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) and Elbit Systems, Israel, on February 6 at DefExpo 2020.
BEL's Director (Marketing) Anandi Ramalingam, GRSE's Director (Ship Building) Cmde S Nayyar (IN Retd), and Elbit Systems' Vice President (Naval Systems) Yaron Levi signed the tripartite MoU on behalf of BEL, GRSE and Elbit respectively. The MoU aims at leveraging the individual strengths of BEL, Elbit and GRSE for the development and customisation of Elbit's USVs for the requirements of the Indian Navy.
Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), also known as unmanned surface vessels (USVs) are boats that operate on the surface of the water without a crew. As early as the end of World War II, remote-controlled USVs were used in minesweeping applications. Since then, advances in USV control systems and navigation technologies have been achieved, resulting in USVs that can be operated remotely (by an operator on land or on a nearby vessel), USVs that operate with partially autonomous control, and USVs (ASVs) that operate fully autonomously. Modern applications and research areas for USVs and ASVs include commercial shipping, environmental and climate monitoring, seafloor mapping, passenger ferries, robotic research, surveillance, an inspection of bridges and other infrastructure, military, and naval operations.