Exail to develop French Navy Ultra-Deepwater AUV

The French defense procurement agency (DGA) is to provide the French Navy with its first sovereign ultradeep-sea exploration and surveillance capability and has chosen Exail to supply a new AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) capable of operating at depths of up to 6,000 meters.

The French defense if premised on three pillars: "to know", "to monitor" and "to take action". AUVs will dedicated to the first two components, and ROVs for the third-one.

Exail has been selected to supply this new AUV, capable of operating at depths of up to 6,000 meters. This new underwater drone is based on the architecture of Ulyx, the AUV co-developed by Exail and Ifremer (French national institute for ocean science and technology ). The latter made its first dives to 6,000 meters during the autumn of 2023. The AUV will incorporate a number of Exail-designed and -manufactured components, including a Phins inertial navigation system and acoustic sensors, but will also be able to carry sensors from other suppliers in order to adapt the system to the missions to hand. The A6K-M AUV is the first of Exail's A6K deep-sea AUV range.