And what is your opinion of Brazil
as a place to live?
I really like the climate, although it is
very hot now, (but in France it´s
snowing!) and the people, they are
very friendly. I haven´t travelled very
much in Brazil, only to a few state
capitals, so I hope to get to know the
country more in time. I really like to
go to Búzios (beach town 300km
northeast of the city of Rio) though,
it´s a beautiful place, very nice to
relax.
www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 43
ECA USV
ECA´s latest military equipment
innovation is the Inspector USV
(Unmanned Surfce Vehicle), the
vessel is an easily reconfigurable 8.2
meter speedboat, which is a plat-
form capable of carrying out a wide
range of missions, such as Mine
warfare and Mine countermeasures
(MCM), Inshore hydrographic and
oceanographic ops, O&G survey,
Coastal and Port security,
Intelligence, Surveillance and
Reconnaissance (ISR), Structure
and Hull inspection, Fleet training,
Naval combat and Electronic war-
fare. It runs on two turbo diesel
engines and hydrojets, with a maxi-
mum speed of 30kts, a remote con-
trol range of 30nm, and a 50cm
draft, permitting it to penetrate very
shallow locations. The Inspector
USV comes equipped with 360º
night & day camera and may be
configured to carry a range of other
equipment, sensors and weapons. It
also has the capability to remotely
launch a K-STER Mine killer and
also tow multibeam and side scan-
ner, among others.
Digital Wave Publishing