US Navy Sends Bluefin Robotics' AUV to Search for MH370 B777

US Navy Sends Bluefin Robotics' Underwater Sonar Robot in Search for Missing Malaysian Airliner - Naval Technology

The US Navy is sending a sonar equipped underwater robot as part of its search efforts for the missing Flight 370 Malaysian Airlines 777 plane, service officials told USNI News Monday afternoon.


The Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is part of an additional search effort from the Navy to locate the airliner, presumed to have crashed in the Southern Indian Ocean off the western coast of Australia.



The torpedo shaped AUV can operate almost up to three miles underneath the waves and is equipped with a variety of sonar and cameras that could possibly detect debris at the depths of the ocean floor and transmit locations to nearby motherships on the surface.

Depth Rating	14,763 ft (4,500 m)
Endurance	25 hours @ 3 knots with standard payload
Speed	Up to 4.5 knots
Energy	13.5 kWh of total energy Nine 1.5 kWh battery packs Lithium-polymer, pressure-tolerant

Standard Payloads
(others available) EdgeTech 2200-M 120/410 kHz side scan sonar
(option: EdgeTech 230/850 kHz dynamically focused)

EdgeTech DW-216 sub-bottom profiler

Reson 7125 400 kHz multibeam echosounder