Defense 2021 Edition

2020 was a year marked by a global pandemic. With globalization coming to a stop and countries struggling to fight COVID-19, the world’s economy took a severe hit. Industrials of all fields are particularly impacted as contracts must be honored and deliveries have to be made. Although relying on already allocated budgets and programs that cannot be postponed, the defense industry isn’t spared either. Despite these unfavorable odds, we are proud to announce several major successes in 2020 for iXblue! We managed to quickly adapt and overcome the challenges set by the crisis. Our navigation, positioning and pointing solutions are being trusted by an increasing number of navies and armies worldwide.

Dedicated to innovating, our clients and partners can now also count on newly developed products, detailed later in this magazine. Further proof that we are still committed to staying true to our pioneering roots, iXblue recently acquired Kylia and Muquans. The former specializes in optical components and instruments (photonics), while the latter develops integrated quantum instruments. By integrating the two companies within iXblue, we have the ambition of growing exponentially and becoming the European leader in photonics and quantum technologies.

We confirmed in 2020 that we are already the European leader in naval navigation. Whether it is on surface warship, patrol boats, support vessels, aircraft carriers or nuclear submarines, iXblue is now present on all type of vessels and the go-to expert for military-grade inertial navigation. This extensive track record and positive relationship with our clients allowed us to set foot onboard two major mine counter measure programs. Not only will we be providing navigation for Polish, Belgian, and Dutch mine countermeasure vessels, we will provide inertial navigation systems (INS) to their associated Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) as well as our newest forward-looking sonars (FLS) for mine detection and avoidance. The land defense market is not left out, as several successes accumulate and prove that our solutions for land forces match the strong reputation of its naval counterpart. Last but not least, our intense work on autonomy pays off, with our “DriX” unmanned surface vehicle catching the interest of a number of major institutes.

Regarding our work on autonomy, iXblue is positioning itself as a major player for USVs and UUVs’ onboard systems. By reading this magazine, you’ll find out how not only we are planning for the future of navies’ drone programs, but are ready to answer their needs, today. We are convinced listening to our clients and studying how tomorrow’s conflicts will pan out is crucial to provide future-proof solutions to armies worldwide. This logic applies to the products themselves as well as their applications, as you’ll find out by reading about using our “Gaps” USBL for diver tracking, how we developed SeapiX-FLS forward looking sonars, how we answered the need for cost-effective INS ready to equip entire fleets of land vehicles, or how we are revolutionizing inertial measurement units (IMUs) by fitting the high-performance and reliability of a fiber-optic gyroscope INS’ sensors into a compact “UmiX” inertial measurement unit.

We hope we get to meet you to discuss how iXblue can become a partner in your projects. In the meantime, we wish you a good read!