DEPLOYDatabase

Company

Exail

Exail is a French high-tech industrial company led by Chairman and CEO Raphael Gorge, specializing in cutting-edge robotics, maritime, navigation, and…

Founded
2022
HQ
La Garde, Var, France
Status
private (Exail Technologies)

The verified answer

As of Aug 2026, DEPLOY verifies Exail: 1 model, 1 deployment across 1 region. 3 sources back the record.

CategoryMaritime

Overview

Exail is a French high-tech industrial company led by Chairman and CEO Raphael Gorge, specializing in cutting-edge robotics, maritime, navigation, and photonics technologies. The company develops unmanned underwater vehicles (AUVs) and unmanned surface vehicles, and was selected to develop the French Navy's ultra-deepwater AUV.

Verified record

Verified deployments
1 deployment on file
Active incidents
None on file

Key facts

Formed

2022 merger of ECA Group (France, founded 1936) and iXblue (France, founded 2000s)

CEO

Raphael Gorge

Product

AUVs (A18, A9), USVs, subsea robotics, inertial navigation systems, maritime autonomy

Customers

French Navy, UK MOD, NATO navies, offshore energy, oceanographic institutes

Patents

ECA/iXblue legacy patent portfolios in underwater navigation and robotics

Products

DriX USVs (uncrewed surface vessels), AUVs for defense and security

Customer

French Navy (ultra-deepwater AUV)

Applications

Mine countermeasures, seabed mapping, anti-submarine warfare, inspection

Acquisition

Thales acquiring Exail for $4.5 billion (July 2026)

Revenue growth

26% YoY (Q4 2025)

Financial stage

Growth — being acquired by Thales, 26% revenue growth

Data & sources

Press releases

2

Web sources

1

3 sources backing this record.View all →

Exail on the deployment map

View the global map

1 verified deployment across 1 region. Explore where Exail's robots are operating, by place and type.

Free to use on your site, with a link back to DEPLOY.

View the full Exail deployment record →

Free to use on your site, with a link back to DEPLOY.

Relationships

Explainers

Plain-language answers to the questions people ask about Exail, from DEPLOY’s explainer library. Each is written in the language of the question and cross-checked against this registry.

What is a maritime robot?
A maritime robot is an autonomous uncrewed vehicle (USV surface + AUV/UUV subsea) operating in the maritime regulatory regime for ocean data collection + commercial + defense operations. Per DEPLOY's framework, the cohort enumerates as: surface×commercial (Saildrone fleet) + surface×defense (Saronic Corsair/Mirage/Marauder) + subsea×defense triad (Anduril Dive-LD + Anduril Ghost Shark + HII REMUS) + subsea×commercial (Bedrock Ocean) + autonomy-system (Sea Machines) + hybrid surface+subsea (Ocean Aero Triton) + legacy-prime entity-scoped (Kongsberg HUGIN AUV + Exail DriX USV). Editorial throughlines: regime matrix (surface×commercial vs surface×defense vs subsea×commercial vs subsea×defense vs autonomy-system vs hybrid); new-defense maritime extension (Saronic + Anduril extend Anduril+Helsing+Shield-AI new-defense from aerial into water, contrasting HII REMUS legacy prime); entity-scoping discipline (registry entity scoped to AI-primary vehicle not parent corp); captive-data-as-a-service vs hardware-sale vs autonomy-system-vendor business-model split.Read the full explainer →
What is Exail DriX?
Exail DriX is a French dual-use (commercial+defense) unmanned surface vehicle (USV) product. CRITICAL ENTITY SCOPE per Agent A maritime source-depth hygiene: vehicle-level entity scope (DriX USV), NOT Exail parent corporation (parallel vehicle-not-conglomerate scoping discipline to Kongsberg HUGIN). DriX operates international commercial + defense dual-use surface autonomous vehicle deployment. Cohort positioning: international commercial+dual-use surface archetype within the maritime cluster; preserves entity-scoping framework discipline alongside HUGIN AUV vehicle-scope precedent.Read the full explainer →

Current leadership (2)

Safety record

No incidents on record for Exail.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →

Operator customers (1)

Recent coverage

Exail in third-party press

Peer companies