U.S Firm Reveals New MANTIS UUV That Can Detect Mines, Conduct Surveys & Map The Seabed

Klein Marine Systems has revealed a new type of unmanned underwater vehicle named MANTIS, which can easily detect naval mines, conduct search and recovery missions, offshore inspections and underwater mapping.

With integrated side-scan sonar technology and onboard processing, the UUV has Klein’s SmartArray Technology, which embeds key electronics directly within the transducer array to support a more compact system architecture and preserve valuable vehicle payload space.

The company states that MANTIS is built for UUV platforms where space, power, speed, and data handling are important.

MANTIS delivers high-resolution sonar imagery consistently, given the changing survey range, laying a strong foundation for AI analysis and machine learning.

In the 600 kHz configuration, it can support up to 150 meters per side, delivering a total swath of up to 300 meters. Additional configurations include operating frequencies of 720 kHz and 850kHz.

The company emphasises that it is compatible with its SonarPro NXT software platform for data review, analysis, and playback.

However, MANTIS has a few limitations, such as its endurance being limited to the density of the onboard energy storage systems.

It is also data bandwidth-limited since radio frequency networking suffers from attenuation underwater.

However, the advantages are more. For instance, UUV swarms can easily detect mines and other unnatural objects in real time, which eliminates the need for manned mine-countermeasure ships.

Recent trends show that a costly UUV leader can search the area for mines while another UUV can take necessary steps to neutralise it.

In future, UUVs will be extensively deployed to monitor seabed infrastructure like oil and gas pipelines, and internet cables.