Norway-based Kongsberg Discovery has announced its long-range autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) HUGIN Endurance has completed a multi-week fully-autonomous mission reaching depths of 3,400m.

Kongsberg Discovery, which supplies high-technology systems and solutions for the ocean space environment, first launched its HUGIN Endurance AUV in 2021.

The largest in its AUV range, the 8 tonne, 40ft HUGIN Endurance has been designed to enable autonomous operations directly from shore. With its onboard batteries, the drone can remain in the sea for 15 days, traveling up to 2,200km.

It comes equipped with a wide range of sensors to collect data such as conductivity, temperature, sound speed, methane and CO2 and O2 concentration.

Sea trials for the first production unit of the HUGIN Endurance began in September 2023 and ran though to April 2024 to help verify and refine all system capabilities.

To further validate the design specifications of the AUV, the vehicle has just been put through a week...