China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation
Explorer AUV is one of the projects of 863-512 subprogram of the 863 Program in PRC, developed by a joint team of research and educational establishments including the 702nd Research Institute (中国船舶重工集团公司第702研究所) of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), Shenyang Institute of Automation (沈阳自动化所) of Chinese Academy of Science, Shipbuilding Engineering Institute (船舶工程学院) of Harbin Engineering University (HEU), Institute of Underwater Engineering (水下工程研究所) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SHJTU), and other establishments totaling over a dozen. Feng Xisheng (封锡盛), a professor of Shipbuilding Engineering Institute of HEU was named at the general designer of Explorer AUV, while Xu Huangnan (徐芑南), a professor of School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering (船舶与海洋工程学院) of SHJTU and the general designer of 8A4 class ROUVs, was named as the deputy general designer of Explorer AUV. Explorer AUV is the first AUV of PRC.