Exail’s A18D underwater drone chosen by DGA for seabed operations

French company Exail, a specialist in underwater drone systems, has signed a contract with the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA – French defence procurement agency) for the rental of an A18D Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) for the French Navy. The contract is expected to last approximately two years and includes academic and operational training for 12 sailors.

The A18D is designed to perform missions at depths of up to 3,000m for mapping, sonar imaging and high-resolution inspection of pipelines and cables. Capable of carrying out its missions in total autonomy for 24 hours, it can reach a speed of 6 knots and carry out up to 40 km² of imaging per mission.

The French Navy will use this autonomous multi-sensor vehicle to conduct experiments with a view to defining its future needs, with the DGA’s technical support, as part of the French Ministry for Armed Forces’ strategy to understand and monitor seabeds.

Exail is one of a number of companies shortlisted for the Royal Australian Navy’s uncrewed Mine Counter Measures (MCM) Project, SEA1905. The company is already part of the AN’s Project SEA1778 and is delivering the autonomous MCM program for the Belgian and Dutch Navies.

The A18D AUV and its on-board sensors will allow the French Navy to:

• Detect and identify objects thanks to a high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS)
• Chart the form of the seabed using a multi-beam echo sounder (MBES) bathymetric sonar, and
• Characterise the nature of the seabed thanks to a sub-bottom profiler (SBP) sonar and video camera

Observing and monitoring what is happening in the deep ocean has become a real necessity to ensure the protection of national interests. This is the why the French Ministry for Armed Forces unveiled its seabed strategy last February. It is within this framework that the contract has been awarded. It follows on from an initial operational evaluation campaign of Exail’s A18D conducted last year by the French Navy and the Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOM).