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Are there more vehicles like this operating in the Þ eld today? We have multiple 4500 meter vehicles in the Þ eld, all sold to commercial clients. Phoenix has a military contract for the MH370 search, but from our perspective this is a commer- cial client since the vehicle was not purchased under govern- ment funding. The drive to design a system to a 4500 meter depth rating was from commercial needs, not military needs. We do have several vehicles out there with oceanographic re- search and other commercial clients. This was an internal de- velopment for commercial needs, and the depth rating, if you think about it, was for the Pre Salt Þ elds off of Brazil. Lets discuss the proliferation of AUVs in the offshore market. Speci Þ cally, where to you see the market today? The Þ rst generation technology autonomous vehicles are built on is proven and trusted. The vehicles go out, collect data and come back. Overall the use of AUVs in the offshore oil and gas industry is still in its infancy. There is still some work to be done to integrate them as safe and accepted as- sets in active offshore oil and gas production Þ elds. So we are working with industry partners to evaluate where advanced undersea robotics can be applied within the oil and gas sector, and the alternative energy industry. You could probably draw an analogy between the adoption and proliferation of work- class ROVs 20 years ago. Getting back to the hunt for ß ight MH370, how did it come about that the BlueÞ n AUV was involved? The AUV is owned by Phoenix International that has a contract with the U.S. Navy, Supervisor of Salvage. BlueÞ n learned about the possible use of the system the weekend be- fore it was mobilized, when Phoenix called us and said that this might happen. So we started a discussion on how to pro- vide a expanded set of spare parts suitable for high op tempo AUV Market The BlueÞ n 21, Artemis autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is hoisted back aboard the Royal Australian Navy Australian Defense Vessel (ADV) Ocean Shield after successful buoyancy testing. Joint Task Force 658 is supporting Operation Southern Indian Ocean, searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Peter D. Blair/Released) 20 MTRMay 2014MTR #4 (18-33).indd 20MTR #4 (18-33).indd 205/12/2014 10:46:44 AM5/12/2014 10:46:44 AM