8A001 Category 8A

Submersible vehicles and surface vessels, as follows (see List of Items Controlled).

Category 8: Marine

Reasons for control

• NS: National security
• AT: Anti-terrorism

Country chart

List-based license exceptions

Items

1. a. Manned, tethered submersible vehicles designed to operate at depths exceeding 1,000 m;
2. b. Manned, untethered submersible vehicles having any of the following:
3. b.1. Designed to 'operate autonomously' and having a lifting capacity of all the following:
4. b.1.a. 10% or more of their weight in air; and
5. b.1.b. 15 kN or more;
6. b.2. Designed to operate at depths exceeding 1,000 m; or
7. b.3. Having all of the following:
8. b.3.a. Designed to continuously 'operate autonomously' for 10 hours or more; and
9. b.3.b. 'Range' of 25 nautical miles or more;
10. c. Unmanned submersible vehicles as follows:
11. c.1. Unmanned submersible vehicles having any of the following:
12. c.1.a. Designed for deciding a course relative to any geographical reference without real-time human assistance;
13. c.1.b. Acoustic data or command link; or
14. c.1.c. Wireless optical data or command link exceeding 1,000 m;
15. c.2. Unmanned, submersible vehicles, not specified in 8A001.c.1, having all of the following:
16. c.2.a. Designed to operate with a tether;
17. c.2.b. Designed to operate at depths exceeding 1,000 m; and
18. c.2.c. Having any of the following:
19. c.2.c.1. Designed for self-propelled maneuver using propulsion motors or thrusters specified by 8A002.a.2; or
20. c.2.c.2. Fiber optic data link;
21. d. [Reserved]
22. e. Ocean salvage systems with a lifting capacity exceeding 5 MN for salvaging objects from depths exceeding 250 m and having any of the following:
23. e.1. Dynamic positioning systems capable of position keeping within 20 m of a given point provided by the navigation system; or
24. e.2. Seafloor navigation and navigation integration systems, for depths exceeding 1,000 m and with positioning “accuracies” to within 10 m of a predetermined point.

Related controls

For the control status of equipment for submersible vehicles, see: Category 6 for sensors; Categories 7 and 8 for navigation equipment; Category 8A for underwater equipment.

Notes

Technical Notes: 1. For the purposes of 8A001.b, 'operate autonomously' means fully submerged, without snorkel, all systems working and cruising at minimum speed at which the submersible can safely control its depth dynamically by using its depth planes only, with no need for a support vessel or support base on the surface, sea-bed or shore, and containing a propulsion system for submerged or surface use. 2. For the purposes of 8A001.b, 'range' means half the maximum distance a submersible vehicle can 'operate autonomously'.

Source: eCFR, version 2026-08-01, retrieved 2026-08-20T04:04:59+00:00.