Companies and research centres from nine European countries are developing some new unmanned marine and submarine vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel batteries which will notably improve the features of those used at present, thereby minimizing the environmental impact they have. The Ingenium group from the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) is one of the members of the European consortium which has made this initiative possible. This project has been named ENDURUNS, which stands for Development and demonstration of a long-endurance sea surveying autonomous unmanned vehicle with gliding capability powered by hydrogen fuel cell.

UCLM Professor Pedro García Márquez, the main researcher at Ingenium, explained that the project envisages developing the technology for unmanned submarine and marine vehicles, which are better known as AUVs and USVs respectively. "The aim of the project is to optimize, reduce expenses and provide greater quality research on the vehicles there are at present- he explained- whilst boosting this technology in order to tackle new challenges the industry faces and in marine constructions, which are experiencing a real boom". In this respect García Márquez stressed that the initiative"will take into account non-destructive tests in a marine environment by using the most cutting-edge technologies".

Project ENDURUNS is coordinated by the Greek company Altus Lsa Commercial and Manufacturing SA, and also involves other industries and research centres from Spain, Italy,France, Cyprus,Belgium,Lithuania, Greece, the UK and Denmark. Placed within the framework of the HORIZON 2020 programme of the European Union in the field of scientific research, the project has received 8,747,765 euros in funds.

UCLM Communication Office Ciudad Real, 12th of March 2019.