“We have been present in Australia for over 10 years with a dedicated Brisbane-based team of highly qualified engineers, hydrographers, geophysicists, program managers and equipment sales staff,” explained Fabien Napolitano, CEO of iXblue.

“Australia being a key market for iXblue, it was only natural for us to expand our capabilities in the region. We recognise the significant value that our Australian suppliers can add to our worldwide business and we are now taking an important step towards enhancing our Australian supply chain and our sovereign sustainment capabilities within Australia.”

iXblue specialises in the design and manufacturing of autonomous, marine and photonics technologies, with in-house expertise including innovative systems and solutions that work on inertial navigation, subsea positioning, underwater imaging as well as shipbuilding and tests.

iXblue's technologies include:

• Fibre-optic gyroscope;
• Optical fibers and components;
• Optical modulation;
• Inertial navigation;
• Underwater acoustics;
• Seabed mapping;
• Data fusion;
• GEO database; and
• Advanced control.

The company employs a workforce of 600 employees over 60 countries.