Malaysian subsea installation specialist the OMS Group has confirmed the start of sea acceptance tests (SATs) of a new unmanned surface vehicle (USV) acquired by the company from French robotics manufacturer Exail.
Elite is one of two USVs that OMS acquired from Exail earlier this year. The craft will be used for seabed surveys, route verification, and monitoring.
The USVs belong to an existing series with examples already in operation in other countries. The craft are capable of long-duration operations of up to 30 days.
Elite's SATs are being conducted off the south of France. OMS said the SAT campaign is focused on validating vessel handling, stability, systems integration, operational controls, and survey performance under representative offshore conditions.
The company said early observations confirmed that the USV can deliver stable line keeping and platform behaviour suitable for continuous offshore survey operations over extended missions.
A key component of the programme is the verification of the Kongsberg deepwater multibeam echosounder suite. According to OMS, initial results demonstrated robust full-swath bathymetric acquisition capability aligned with the requirements of full ocean-depth cable route survey operations.
The company added that the programme is also continuing to validate end-to-end integration between vessel systems and survey payloads, supporting its own operating model for reliable deepwater data acquisition.
"Elite is designed to expand our capability in full ocean-depth route surveys while improving safety, efficiency, and sustainability through a remote operating model," said Ronnie Lim, CEO of the OMS Group.
OMS said that SAT results will support final operational procedures and deployment planning ahead of regional mobilisation early in the fourth quarter of 2026.