A navy has selected Exail’s Marins inertial navigation systems to equip its fleet of uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), as militaries increasingly plan for operations in environments where GPS signals may be jammed or spoofed.
The customer was not identified in the announcement. Exail said the contract covers the navy’s complete USV fleet.
Inertial navigation systems provide position, heading and speed without relying on satellite-based signals. For uncrewed platforms, where there is no navigator onboard, resilient navigation is a prerequisite for autonomous operations and mission continuity in contested conditions, including when Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals are degraded or unavailable.
Exail said Marins will provide position, heading, attitude and velocity data for the USVs, and that the system is based on the company’s fibre-optic gyroscope technology.
Jean-Marc Binois, Exail’s chief commercial officer, said navies are moving towards fleets where crewed and uncrewed vessels operate together, and that scaling USV deployment depends on “trusted navigation technologies capable of meeting demanding defense requirements.”
Exail said its Marins systems are deployed on surface vessels and submarines operated by more than 50 navies, and that its navigation technologies equip 80% of autonomous underwater vehicles and remotely operated vehicles.
The announcement follows Exail’s launch earlier this month of Neptis, which it describes as an autonomous maritime surveillance system built around a new family of USVs.
