Exail to supply drone-based mine countermeasure systems to Singapore Navy

High-tech company Exail Technologies has been awarded contracts to deliver multiple robotic systems in the field of mine countermeasures to the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN).

Exail has a longstanding relationship with the RSN, having previously equipped the Bedok-class MCMVs with its robotic mine clearance solutions and has been supplying expendable underwater drones for several years. This collaboration continues with the integration of next-generation systems.

As part of this program, the Singapore Navy is equipping itself with its own unmanned surface vessels (USV), provided by the local company ST Engineering. These USVs will integrate various critical systems provided by Exail:

• High-performance inertial navigation systems;

• Underwater acoustic positioning systems;

• Forward-looking sonars (FLS), an innovative sonar model developed by Exail.

To carry out the mine clearance mission, the USVs will also be equipped with Exail’s MIDS systems (mine identification and disposal systems), consisting of several dozen robotic systems in total, including:

• SEASCAN underwater drones for identification missions;

• Expendable K-STER underwater drones that are destroyed during mine neutralization;

• UMISOFT control & command software for the MIDS system drones;

• LARS (launch and recovery system) to launch and recover the drones from the USV.

According to Exail, with these next-generation systems, the Republic of Singapore Navy will have high-level operational mine clearance capabilities.

These drone systems will be produced in series at the drone assembly site in Ostend, Belgium.

Beyond the Republic of Singapore Navy, other commercial processes are underway in the Asia-Pacific region for robotic mine countermeasure systems.

To remind, in February this year, Exail received a contract to supply several autonomous drone systems for underwater mine warfare to ‘a leading navy’. Earlier on, the company was awarded a contract to supply a mine countermeasures system to the UAE Navy.