Paris, 11 February 2025 – After an international tender launched several years ago, a leading navy has decided to entrust Exail Technologies with the supply of several autonomous drone systems for underwater mine warfare. This major success reinforces the group’s strategy and the development choices made for over 10 years. This program will be transformative for Exail in terms of size and positioning to win other upcoming programs worldwide. It is expected to have an additional positive effect on the group’s profitability.
A major program with the UMIS system
This contract represents an amount of several hundred million euros for Exail Technologies. The systems are expected to be delivered over a period of 4 years. The contract’s entry into force remains subject to usual conditions, including the receipt of a down payment. The program will then be recorded in the order book. Exail Technologies will be able to communicate later on the client’s identity and the contract amount, subject to the client’s agreement.
With this program, this navy will acquire state-of-the-art drone systems. They will consist of different types of drones from the group’s existing range and integrated into Exail’s Control & Command system. The UMIS systems offered by Exail may include surface drones, underwater detection drones, several underwater drones for the MIDS (Mine Identification & Destruction Systems) mission, as well as aerial drones.
A transformative program for the group
Upon the contract’s entry into force, the group’s order book will exceed the one billion euro mark. This is another important milestone in Exail’s history: the group had changed dimension in 2019 with the BENL program win, then in 2022 with the acquisition of iXblue, and today with the win of a new contract worth several hundred million euros. In a few years, the order book has thus been multiplied by 10.
With this new program, the company intends to strengthen its strong position in this market with a success rate of over 90% on tenders over the past 6 years. Exail remains the only player with all the necessary drones for underwater mine clearance missions by drones. The choice made by this client further strengthens the competitive advantage over competing solutions and positions the group for other upcoming tenders.
Photo courtesy Exail