OMS Group buys second DriX vessel for cable surveys

OMS Group has acquired a second DriX O-16 uncrewed surface vessel from Exail, expanding its survey fleet for subsea cable installation work.

The new vessel will join the first DriX O-16 purchased last year, which is due to be launched in mid-2026 under the name USV Elite. The two vessels will support cable installation campaigns worldwide, carrying out seabed surveys, route verification and monitoring for telecommunications cable infrastructure.

The deal is part of a broader push by the Kuala Lumpur-based group to use autonomous systems in offshore work. OMS plans to integrate the DriX O-16 into its survey set-up alongside planned autonomous underwater vehicles and a remote operations centre in Singapore for supervision, data validation and multi-vehicle operations.

The DriX O-16 is designed for extended offshore missions, with an operational endurance of up to 30 days and a range of about 3,500 nautical miles. It can carry survey equipment including the Kongsberg EM124 multibeam echo sounder, used for seabed mapping on large subsea infrastructure projects.

Market demand

Demand for subsea cable capacity has risen as telecommunications networks, cloud services and data centre traffic expand. That has increased pressure on marine contractors and infrastructure operators to survey routes efficiently before installation and monitor assets after deployment.

OMS operates across submarine cable installation, marine maintenance and related support services through its OMS Telco division. It has five owned cable vessels in service and four more under construction, while its LitUp Network business provides terrestrial services including cable landing stations, network backhaul, data centre connectivity and fibre ownership.

"As global demand for subsea digital infrastructure continues to grow, advanced survey capability has become increasingly important. The deployment of the DriX O-16 strengthens our ability to deliver high-quality seabed data with greater safety, lower emissions, and improved operational resilience, particularly for long-duration and remote offshore missions," said Ronnie Lim, Group Chief Executive Officer, OMS Group.

Survey shift

Uncrewed surface vessels are gaining attention in offshore survey work because they can stay at sea longer without a full onboard crew. Operators argue this can reduce vessel support requirements on some missions and lower risk exposure for personnel during remote operations.

Exail said the subsea cable market has become an important use case for the DriX range, which also includes the H-8 and H-9 models. The vessels are intended for offshore tasks where endurance, data collection and remote operation are central requirements.

"The subsea cable market is expanding rapidly, driven by global connectivity needs. Our DriX O-16, equipped with an EM124 multibeam echo sounder, provides cable-laying operators with the endurance and seabed coverage required to support complex installation campaigns. The use of USVs can reduce the survey carbon footprint by up to 99%, decrease human exposure at sea, and offer greater operational flexibility while maintaining high data quality," said Olivier Cervantes, Vice President Maritime Autonomy Solutions, Exail.

Exail employs more than 2,000 people and operates in over 80 countries. The French group was formed through the merger of ECA Group and iXblue in 2022 and is a subsidiary of Exail Technologies.

Operational model

For OMS, the second purchase suggests autonomous survey systems are moving beyond trial use into a more established role within its cable operations. Its plan to pair uncrewed surface vessels with autonomous underwater vehicles and shore-based monitoring points to a model in which offshore survey tasks are increasingly handled by connected fleets rather than conventional crewed ships alone.

The two DriX O-16 vessels will form part of that model as OMS expands its resources for global cable installation campaigns.