Vityaz-D

The Vityaz-D is the first full-ocean depth, fully autonomous deep submergence vehicle. This Russian Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) was designed and developed by the Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering in St. Petersburg, Russia under contract to the Advanced Research Foundation. The development of Vityaz-D began in September 2017. The keel-laying ceremony of the AUV was held at Rubin's assembly plant for experimental production in November 2018. It was tested in May 2020 with autonomous dives to 2400 meters in the Sea of Japan, to 5200 meters in the Philippine Sea, and culminating with a 10,028 meter dive into the Mariana Trench (note that the greatest depth of the Mariana Trench is 10,925 meters – about 900 meters deeper than this Vityaz-D dive on 8 May 2020).