January 12, 2026

The French Hydrographic & Oceanographic Service Orders New Maritime Drone

NemoSens. © RTsys

Following a seven-month bidding process, the French Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (Shom) placed an order at the end of December for a new autonomous underwater micro-drone (μAUV), the NemoSens model, manufactured by RTsys. This order is part of a plan for hydrographic and oceanographic data acquisition methods launched by Shom in 2024.

NemoSens is a micro autonomous underwater vehicle (μAUV) designed for scientific, industrial, and defense applications. It is compact at less than one meter and lightweight at less than 10 kg. Its various payload configurations allow for flexibility and maximum usability.

NemoSens incorporates the latest hardware and software updates from the RTsys product line, making the micro AUV the most powerful of its generation. NemoSens is composed of four sections: a removable nose with onboard connectors for integrating different payloads; a central section including a multifunction mast (GNSS antenna, Wi-Fi antenna, UHF communication, flasher) as well as onboard sensors such as a 900 kHz Side Scan Sonar, an acoustic transducer for real-time tracking from the surface, and various internal sensors; the battery section; and finally, a rear propulsion section allowing it to reach speeds of two to six knots depending on the configuration.

Due to its versatility, the use cases of NemoSens are very varied, ranging from two to 300m in depth, and from coastal mapping needs, diagnosis and monitoring of submarine cables, and pipelines, to port structures, detection of suspicious objects (UXO, underwater mines) and reconnaissance/securing of areas, water quality measurements and monitoring of biological studies.

The use of the latest generation of drones—underwater, surface, and aerial—and the replacement of the French Navy's three coastal hydrographic vessels with two new-generation hydrographic vessels (BHNG), equipped not only with drone capabilities but also with comprehensive data collection capabilities from coastal areas to the abyssal seabed, will contribute to accelerating the production cycle of data and services.

NemoSens will be delivered in the first half of 2026.