Under a bright sun, a red naval drone divided the Sea of the Ciotat, in southern France: the Franco-Belgian group is testing its machine to fight against the mines, its technological showcase, which avoids endangering humans and stands out for export.
This drone, called Drx, designed to detect and map the mines, evolves preceded by a gray inspector 125, a longer and more robust autonomous ship, capable of putting a fleet of autonomous vehicles, including the destructive mine.
For the first time, “the robots identify and treat with the threat, while the operator maintains the supervision of a safe position,” said Thomas Buret, co -director of Exail.
Exail, who has been doing marine drones for more than twenty years, has crossed a level in 2019 thanks to a contract with Belgium and the Netherlands. Since then, his order book has been “multiplied by ten”, more than one billion euros.
World premiere
The family business controlled by the Gorgé group is already pointing to SBF 120, has more than 1,000 sea drones “delivered,” says Thomas Buret. In addition to the Belgian and Dutch armed, the company also offers its autonomous devices in Singapore, Emirates, Indonesia and Latvia.
In mid -September, Exeil marked the spirits during the exercise of the NATO REPMUS in Portugal: its Drix crossed the Gibraltar Strait, connecting the Ciotat with Lisbon in less than a week.
Outside the coast of the Ciotat, the “mother” drone that accompanies Drx, a 12 -meter ship, displays a tortured sonar to explore the bottom of the sea and send to the high -resolution image control center.
Economic underwater mines can be extremely harmful, avoiding the deployment of naval forces or access to a port. In a tense geopolitical climate, the Anti-Mine solution market is in full development.
Before its main competitor, the American Sildroe, Exile states that a platform already experienced at sea, combining “more than one million nautical miles,” he traveled.
Rejected in France
If exports generate 75% of their income, the extremes deplore a “too shy” interest in the French state that in 2024 ordered a DRIX for the hydrographic and oceanographic service of the Navy.
Present in civil and defense, Exail is also recognized for its inertial power plants. These systems capable of estimating the position and lid are essential in the design of drones and essential when the GPS is erased, an increasingly frequent situation in operations theaters.
Jérôme Bendell, director of the Maritime Pole of Exeil and Ex Thales, a defense giant that also produces anti-mates, explains the difference in the approach between the two companies.
“Le Spacex Du Drone Marin”
In the workshops, installed in the old Ciotat shipyards, “we have integrated all the key knowledge, from the form of the fairing to the composite fibers, to guarantee an exceptional sea performance,” says Sébastien Grall, director of Maritime Autonomy Solutions.
A knowledge requested by the General Directorate of Armament, which recently asked civil industrialists to update with drones, the development time of traditional defense sectors is too slow.
“Our goal is to be the Spacex of the Marin drone,” concludes Thomas Buret in reference to the Elon Musk model, which shook the space by making the releases more affordable thanks to total control, from design to marketing.
Source: BFM TV
