Transoceanic DriX christened in La Ciotat
The new DriX O-16, produced by Exail, was christened last week in a ceremony attended by many officials and co-workers in the harbour of La Ciotat. The transoceanic DriX O-16, the latest addition to the DriX series of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) produced by the French company, was introduced to the public at Oceanology earlier this year.
Exail’s new USV is the largest DriX so far – at 15 metres – and differs from family members in its sea handling and high sensor integration capacity. It is also transoceanic; it can run 30 days non-stop, travelling up to 3,500 nautical miles. The USV can launch ROTVs and ROVs, has increased sea handling, and has dual hybrid propulsion, whereby the combustion engine is extremely efficient. The O-16 is especially focused on deep-water hydrography and is therefore believed to be a gamechanger for survey and seabed mapping, speeding up and enlarging projects under difficult circumstances and remote locations, and so allowing them to be completed with fewer people in the same time frame. The press had the opportunity to watch the DriX in action – under almost ideal circumstances – in La Ciotat bay and was given a tour of the DriX production facility at the naval yard of its home base on the Mediterranean.
A report on the christening of the DriX O-16 and other recent developments at Exail will appear in the upcoming issue of Hydro International.
Check out the DriX O-16 specifications on Geo-matching.
