In a remarkable exploration beneath the surface, the Royal Norwegian Navy's HUGIN Team 1 discovered two new aircraft wrecks in Trondheimsfjorden. The well-preserved World War II wrecks were quickly identified as the legendary Blohm & Voss BV-222 Wiking V2 and the Heinkel HE-115 S4+DH. The wrecks lie at an impressive depth of 318 and 253 meters, respectively, and have never been visited by divers or submersibles before. The last few weeks a team at Blueye Robotics have conducted several dives with underwater drones in the fjord to capture the first close-up images of the seaplanes in around 80 years.

Blueye Robotics has been awarded the contract to supply the Norwegian Coast Guard with underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV)systems. Blueye Robotics has equipped the entire fleet of Coast Guard vessels operated by the Norwegian Coast Guard with their Blueye X3 model, which was launched in 2021.

Blueye Robotics launches the X3, its third Blueye ROV model. Three Guest Ports open up endless possibilities for connecting external peripherals such as sonars, manipulators, sensors, cameras and lights. The tight integration with Blueye's user-upgradeable Blunux operating system makes the X3 both future-proof and easy-to-use.

Joint trials by Norwegian research institute SINTEF Ocean and marine resource technology company Sonardyne International Ltd. have proven the ability for an acoustic positioning system to track underwater robots as they move through industrial-scale fish pens.

A major milestone is successfully completed under the joint development agreement between Diamond Offshore, Inc. and Trelleborg that focuses on creation of a helically grooved buoyancy design with enhanced performance for drilling riser operations in high current conditions. Test results revealed that, when using the patented design, Vortex Induced Vibration (VIV) is effectively eliminated in high currents, with the added bonus that drag loading on the riser is also reduced to a level comparable with fairings. In June of this year, tow tank testing on the patented helically grooved design was performed at SINTEF Ocean’s Tow Tank facility in Trondheim, Norway. The joint facility, under SINTEF and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), is one of the premier hydrodynamic research facilities in the world, allowing testing of the new buoyancy design in the supercritical flow regime representative of offshore current conditions.

Statoil has awarded the Johan Sverdrup SURF Detail Engineering and Services 2015-20 contract to IKM Ocean Design. Johan Sverdrup field is a large oil discovery in production licenses PL265, PL501 and PL502 in the Utsira High region of Norwegian Continental Shelf, 140 km west of Stavanger. The field development is a phased development. Phase one includes the establishment of the field center, consisting of four platforms: A process platform, a drilling platform, a riser platform and a living quarter platform. Subsea, phase one consists of umbilicals and water injection pipelines running from the field center to the injection templates, with the purpose to provide pressure support.