Safe minehunting with smart underwater drones
In Ostend, Exail Robotics Belgium builds underwater drones for the twelve brand-new minehunters of the Belgian and Dutch navies. A factory for this purpose was built in 2020 with support from Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO). The R&D centre is located in Mouscron and focuses on faster, more efficient and safer detection, identification and neutralisation of mines. In the current climate of rising geopolitical tensions, that is no luxury.
On land, at sea and in space
Exail Robotics Belgium s part of Exail, the French high-tech industrial group that produces everything needed to make critical missions more efficient, from the ocean floor to outer space: from photonic components to navigation electronics and robotics, as well as complete unmanned systems for civil and defence applications. Jeroen Debonnet, R&D Manager at Exail: “The strength of our group lies in vertical integration: from component to complete system within a single portfolio. This allows us to seamlessly combine sensors, software and carriers into UMIS, an integrated toolbox for mine countermeasures.”
Stand-off minehunting is safer and faster. Belgium and the Netherlands are pioneers in this field, and we are building the robotics that make it possible.
Underwater mines are cheap, effective and constantly evolving. Buried under sediment, hidden on the seabed or drifting in the water, they pose a risk to naval forces, commercial shipping and offshore infrastructure. The traditional approach, where minehunters sail into a mined area, is not only risky but also extremely time-consuming. Jeroen: “In the classic approach, scanning, analysis, detection and clearance can take up to 72 hours or more. With our innovative underwater drones, this process is much faster: we supply unmanned drones that search, identify and – where necessary – neutralise, while the mothership remains outside the danger zone.”
An innovative toolbox
The hardware is built in Ostend. Various types of unmanned drones together form the toolbox of the state-of-the-art minehunter: detection drones that scan the seabed and communicate with the mothership, drones for high-resolution scans and identification, and drones capable of neutralising mines. In Mouscron, Exail develops the software that optimises these tasks. Naturally, this also involves highly sophisticated artificial intelligence.
Stefanie Duyck, AI research analyst: “As Jeroen mentioned, the traditional analysis process is very time-consuming. By using AI models to process that data, we can reduce it significantly. Of course, an operator always remains in the loop to avoid misclassifications.”
“One challenge,” she explains, “is that our seabed is littered with debris, from plastic waste to discarded oxygen cylinders. Some of these objects look remarkably similar to mines but are not. Another challenge is that the sea is dynamic: conditions change over time due to sedimentation and seabed movement. That’s why we initially focus on broad detection. We sweep the seabed with a drone that collects images and transmits labelled data to the mothership. Our AI models are trained to detect anomalies and report them. We then deploy a second drone to examine those anomalies in detail. Once it’s been established that it is indeed a mine, we remotely deploy a specialised drone to neutralise it.”
AI and the needle in a haystack
That may sound easier than it is. Sonar images are best compared to X-rays: only a trained eye can determine whether a particular spot is dangerous. An AI ‘eye’ trained on vast quantities of images makes an enormous difference – especially when you consider that a single seabed scan can generate up to 7 terabytes of data. It’s easier to find a needle in a haystack.
“AI is therefore not an add-on, but the nervous system of our approach,” Stefanie emphasises. “With UMISOFT, we bring planning, execution and analysis together in a single interface. The software controls the drones, processes data streams and supports the operator with detection and recognition algorithms.”
That AI-driven acceleration is precisely where the Belgian R&D team in Mouscron makes the difference. With a development project supported by VLAIO business advisers Tom Sterken and Patrick Hauspie, they are taking this further: training and validating domain-specific models using North Sea data, making algorithms robust against noise and seasonal variation, and designing interfaces that inspire confidence among analysts. NATO has also shown strong interest. In 2024, it signed a contract with Exail Robotics Belgium worth €60 million, covering not only the production of drones but also training materials and equipment.
Exail Robotics plays a crucial role in international mine countermeasures. Through its participation in European programmes, its technology also strengthens cooperation between European defence partners.
This broader, international perspective is also reflected in the promising European MIRICLE project (Mine Risk Clearance), in which Exail participates. Ten countries and eighteen partners are jointly developing the European roadmap for next-generation mine countermeasures (MCM): interoperable systems, XL-UUV testing and experiments involving buried mines – precisely what is missing in traditional techniques.
Strategic transformation support
For the construction and start-up of its production plant in Ostend, Exail Robotics received strategic transformation support in 2020. This was preceded by an intensive guidance pathway. From the VLAIO acquisition team – the point of contact for foreign investors – VLAIO business adviser Hilde Deleye and project adviser Tim Spiessens provided location proposals, contacts and consultation with relevant partners (including for knowledge, recruitment, subsidy opportunities and follow-up discussions on innovation support).
