Exail announces first sale of new autonomous surface drone

Exail Technologies has announced the first sale of the newest model in its range of autonomous surface drones, also known as uncrewed surface vehicles (USV). 

The undisclosed client, described as a leading global hydrographic authority, will use the new drone primarily for naval defence applications. This new order follows an earlier sale of a fleet of five drones to a European navy for naval surveillance missions.

According to Exail, the new USV offers significantly enhanced capabilities for offshore operations. The company added that it provides up to twenty days of autonomy at sea, which is twice that of its predecessor model, along with increased payload capacity and an extended range of several thousand nautical miles.

The drone can carry multiple geophysical sensors simultaneously, such as sonars and multibeam echosounders. It is also equipped with an aft launch and recovery system, enabling the deployment of towed sensors and remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) to support tasks like seafloor mapping and infrastructure inspection.