China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation
To develop a ROUV that meets the special needs of military salvage and rescue operations that was not commercially available on the market, China organized a design team in the late 1980s including the 702nd Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), the Shipbuilding Engineering Institute of Harbin Engineering University (HEU), and the Institute of Underwater Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SHJTU), with a professor of SHJTU, Mr. Xu Huangnan (徐芑南), and the future deputy general designer of Explorer AUV, and the future general designer of other Chinese unmanned underwater vehicles including Sea Dragon class ROUV, CR class AUV, and SJT class ROUV, was named as the general designer of the 8A4 ROUV. The goal was to develop an ROUV primarily used for military applications, while also capable of performing civilian tasks as the secondary mission.