Russia has unveiled a new maritime defence system featuring surface, underwater and flying robots, to the Defence Ministry, a defence official has said.
Speaking at the Defence Ministry-organised Innovation Day exhibition, Morinformsystem-Agat general director and chief designer Georgy Antsev was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying: "The global (maritime defence) command and control system, which we are developing, is ready for a large-scale testing phase.
"A patrol ship or submarine[s] are not always capable of monitoring large regions, while an integrated information control robotic system may solve tasks related to the defence of whole regions, as well as providing navigation in difficult conditions."
The system consists of remotely-controlled patrol boats, unmanned aerial vehicles, a range of different floating beacons and sensors, as well as monitoring, communications and data-management.
According to Morinformsystem-Agat, the robotic systems can be used to perform missions such as the detection of non-static underwater objects and their positioning, as well as guard missions for sea areas of interest and search and inspection of sunken objects.
The systems have been designed to carry out online monitoring of sea areas, a wide range of hydrographic surveys and searches for mineral and biological resources.
The company said that the robots may be integrated with either traditional internal combustion engines or solar or water-energy powered engines.
