US Turns to Exail’s Phins Compact to Enhance Stealth and Precision of Its Underwater Drone Fleet.

The United States has opted to rely on French technology to equip a strategic segment of its autonomous naval fleet. A contract was recently signed with Exail, a company specializing in inertial navigation, for the delivery of 100 Phins Compact systems intended for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). Behind this acquisition lies a clear objective: to enhance the performance, reliability, and autonomy of naval missions carried out without human intervention, particularly in increasingly contested environments.
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The system relies on fiber optic gyroscopes and contains no moving parts, making it silent, shock-resistant, and largely immune to electromagnetic or acoustic interference (Picture source: Exail)

UUVs are expected to play a central role in future naval operations, including covert reconnaissance, critical infrastructure monitoring, mine detection and neutralization, seabed mapping, and anti-submarine warfare. To operate effectively in such missions, especially where GNSS signals are unavailable or disrupted, these platforms must be able to navigate and position themselves autonomously. This is precisely the capability provided by Exail’s Phins Compact INS.

The system relies on fiber optic gyroscopes and contains no moving parts, making it silent, shock-resistant, and largely immune to electromagnetic or acoustic interference. It delivers sub-metric navigation accuracy and can guide a UUV for several hours without significant drift. Its modular design and compatibility with communication standards such as Ethernet and CAN allow for rapid integration across various platforms, including existing systems, with minimal structural modification.

From a capability standpoint, the adoption of this solution allows the U.S. Navy to advance its autonomous underwater operations. By enabling precise and reliable navigation that does not depend on external infrastructure, these systems significantly expand operational reach, even at depth or in degraded communication environments. They also enhance resilience against electronic warfare, a growing concern in contemporary naval theaters.

Logistical factors also contribute to the system’s value. Its low power consumption, combined with a demonstrated mean time between failures exceeding 100,000 hours, helps reduce maintenance frequency and extend operational availability. By incorporating an Unscented Kalman Filter for real-time fusion of inertial and acoustic data (DVL, LBL, USBL), the system continually adjusts navigation to the surrounding underwater environment, maintaining optimal trajectory control.

This contract reflects a broader U.S. effort to diversify its technology base beyond ITAR constraints by sourcing reliable solutions from allied nations. The availability of an ITAR-free version of the Phins Compact played a significant role in the decision, easing integration into sensitive programs while minimizing regulatory dependency.

Over time, this acquisition may pave the way for expanded technological cooperation between Exail and U.S. defense stakeholders, both in embedded systems and in future collaborative UUV programs. For the United States, it represents a targeted investment in undersea autonomy at a moment when submarine warfare and asymmetric maritime threats, both in littoral zones and open ocean, are gaining strategic prominence.