Goldfish-class ROUV

The Goldfish class (金鱼, Jin Yu, or JY for short) remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROUV) is a class of light ROUV developed by the Shenyang Institute of Automation (沈阳自动化所)^[1] of the Chinese Academy of Science. It is in service with both the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and other civilian agencies of the People's Republic of China.

Three models of the Goldfish class ROUV have been developed as of late 2009: JY-01 (Jin Yu Yi Hao, 金鱼一号), the original base model of the class, which first entered service in the late 1980s for evaluation purposes; JY-02 (Jin Yu Er Hao, 金鱼二号), the successor to JY-01; and JY-03 (Jin Yu San Hao, 金鱼三号), the model that entered series production. The Goldfish class ROUV is designed to be a man-portable system that can be rapidly deployed without the need for extensive ship-borne or shore-based logistic support. JY-02 weighs 36 kg and is a meter in height; its successor, JY-03 is more compact. The entire system weight of JY-03 is less than 100 kg, while the largest subsystem, the underwater vehicle, weighs less than 35 kg. This means that JY-03 can be carried and deployed by two adults without difficulty.

Goldfish class ROUV is a class of ROUV designed for underwater observation, and is used to inspect the underwater structures of harbors. During its deployment it often operates in conjunction with more advanced ROUVs, and serves as a search vehicle to gather information. Goldfish class ROUVs can more cheaply inspect large areas than is possible with higher-spec ROUVs; these more capable ROUVs then use data gathered by the Goldfish class to perform maintenance tasks on specific areas. Goldfish class ROUVs also have civilian applications, including for underwater archeology missions in Fuxian Lake. Media coverage of the Fuxian Lake project revealed the existence of the Goldfish class ROUV to the general public for the first time.

References

• SIAC robotic subs
• Goldfish-3 ROUV in underwater archeology