Exail unveils Neptis C2 system to coordinate naval surveillance assets

A computer-generated image of the transoceanic Oryx O-16 (above) and medium-range Oryx H-8 (below) unmanned surface vehicles co-ordinating through the Neptis distributed autonomy system during a surveillance mission at sea. (Exail)

French defence company Exail unveiled Neptis, an integrated system-of-systems centred around a command-and-control (C2) architecture that co-ordinates disparate naval surveillance assets, the company said in a press release on 9 October 2026.

According to Exail, Neptis connects distributed sensors above, on, and below the surface into a co-ordinated surveillance network. The company said the system can support intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); anti-submarine warfare (ASW); critical undersea infrastructure (CUI) protection; and counter-uncrewed aerial vehicle (C-UAV) missions.

The system is centred on a C2 software suite that allows operators to supervise and co-ordinate multiple autonomous platforms. According to Exail, its modular architecture can combine tactical track visualisation, mission planning, classification, data fusion, and artificial intelligence-assisted decision support.

“Naval surveillance has traditionally relied on sending valuable ships and crews into areas that need to be monitored,” said Exail's head of maritime autonomous systems Sébastien Grall in the release. But navies are using various emerging sensor technologies to monitor sea areas on a persistent basis while conserving personnel and crewed platforms. Neptis connects these distributed sensors to establish one shared picture of the maritime area of concern.

Exail said in its 9 October press release that Neptis' development draws on experience from another system – the Unmanned Maritime Integrated System (UMIS) – which applies the same concept of integrating various assets for mine countermeasure (MCM) missions. Neptis is intended to address a broader range of naval operational requirements.