Iran’s Threat to Mine Hormuz Spotlights New Billionaire Family
Gorgé family’s Exail Technologies builds sea drones to hunt and destroy mines.
An Exail Technologies SA mine-hunting drone.
Source: Exail Technologies SA
Raphaël Gorgé’s top-of-the-line system of mine-hunting sea drones can cost €500 million ($580 million) and takes as many as 18 months to build. With a war raging around the Strait of Hormuz, there’s a queue of would-be buyers knocking on his door.
“We’re receiving requests, inquiries, and assessments about capabilities,” Gorgé, the 54-year-old chief executive officer of Paris-based Exail Technologies SA, said in an interview. “Demand is strong. I think if I had 12 systems ready off the shelf, I would find buyers quite easily.”