US defense builds drone that can fly and dive

The US Navy Research Lab is working on a drone that can both dive underwater and fly short distances. With this, the ‘flying submarine’ must be able to neutralize enemy submarines.

Submarines that are controlled as drones can only achieve low speeds due to the resistance of the water, while maneuverability is also limited. This makes combating enemy submarines difficult, especially in shallow waters where many obstacles can be found. However, the Navy Research Lab thinks it can partially circumvent these limitations by largely flying a drone.

A first design came from the so-called Wanda drone, which stands for Wrasse-inspired Agile Near-shore Deformable-fin Automaton, as the name implies, it was inspired by a species of fish, in this case the gomphosus varius, a fish that grows in corals to depths of 30 meters. Wanda has four fins: two for steering and two for propulsion underwater.

Further research was carried out on the basis of this design. By giving the fins a different design and adding a wing, the drone can also fly. Tests have now been carried out in which the ‘flying Wanda’ above the water can reach 50 knots, more than 90 km/h, while under water the speed drops to 10 knots, or 19 km/h.

The Navy Research Lab has now conducted four test flights and thinks it has an interesting design. In future versions, Wanda should also be able to steer in the air with its fins, while also looking at how the hybrid drone can be made even lighter, for example by building hollow wings that can also serve as a ballast tank.