DARPA: Flying Submarine?

I see no reason why this aircraft or watercraft would need to carry people. I would think they would be working on remoltly piloted versions.

Originally posted by earthman4
I see no reason why this aircraft or watercraft would need to carry people. I would think they would be working on remoltly piloted versions.

The entire premise behind the concept is that it be able to carry a team of 8 people. That said, I'm not sure I understand your statement.

Originally posted by intelgurl

Originally posted by earthman4
I see no reason why this aircraft or watercraft would need to carry people. I would think they would be working on remoltly piloted versions.

The entire premise behind the concept is that it be able to carry a team of 8 people. That said, I'm not sure I understand your statement.

I see the future of all warbirds as unpiloted. To continue to build and plan war with humans in the vehicles seems archaic.

reply to post by earthman4



Some people just dont listen,

The vehicle is designed to insert and recover a covert operations team, its not an attack craft.

Warfare will alway require "boots on the ground"

reply to post by intelgurl




Several years ago I read an article about high speed submersible/aircraft design.

At that point there were designs on the drawing board for a dual purpose craft.
The technology is available save for one thing a power plant.

This particular team was looking at a fast attack submersible, that could fly short distances and be sub launched.
There has been breakthroughs in the underwater powerplant, a water breathing jet motor, per se.
They are taking sea water and injecting it into a "swirling chamber" with powdered aluminum.
The mix of sea water and the powdered aluminum starts an exothermic chemical reaction, that reaches very high temperatures, (2000 deg+?).
The expanding gasses(super heated steam) can be used to drive a turbine or as propulsive thrust, just like a jet motor.
The exhaust consists of steam and aluminum salts.

I was going to post about the flying sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea but I see I am way way late on that one

I must say that the OP is being a bit disingenuous though (sorry Nat, I love you really) as that design is nothing to do with DARPA, but rather was created by Flight International to illustrate the article.

reply to post by kilcoo316









[edit on 13/10/2008 by Badge01]

Originally posted by punkinworks
The exhaust consists of steam and aluminum salts.

You understand the implications of air bubbles for acoustic (sonar) signature?

reply to post by Badge01


I wasn't even considering transient loadings, just static.


If DARPA are envisaging a 'crash dive' into the water, they are even crazier than I thought. Indeed if that is the case - the GAO should haul the idiots in to explain a total waste of taxpayers money*.



*particularly given the stresses on current public finances the world over after bailing out the greedy twits on wall street who aren't half as smart as they thought they were.

reply to post by kilcoo316


I'm not saying they are. That vid is just a simulation of a concept as far as I'm aware.

I did want to see if anyone had ideas about the impact of a 'crashdive' like that on both the airframe and the pilot.

I could envision some kind of 'pulse' weapon which would maybe cavitate, or aerosol or vaporize the surface of the water (as in bubbles reducing the surface tension in out gases they think might cause ships to sink in the Bermuda Triangle).

www.msnbc.msn.com...

A recent survey revealed the presence of a sunken vessel within the center of one particularly large eruption site, now known as the Witches Hole.”

“One proposed sinking mechanism attributes the vessel’s loss of buoyancy to bubbles of methane gas released from an erupting underwater hydrate,” they wrote. “The known abundance of gas hydrates in the North Sea, coupled with the vessel’s final resting position and its location in the Witches Hole, all support a gas bubble theory.”

No one has ever seen such an eruption, and no one knows how large the bubbles coming off a methane deposit would be.

May and Monaghan created a model of a single large bubble coming up under a ship. They trapped water between vertical glass plates, launched gas bubbles from the bottom and used a video camera to record what happened to an acrylic “hull” floating on the surface.

But to just 'dive' into the water like that? It's just crazy.

Click here for more information.

reply to post by intelgurl

Nah, never heard of that one. I heard this one though.

Skunkworks Morphing UAV Launched from Submarine

Northrop proposes UAV submarine launch

Volare, Volans: Submarine-Launched UAV from Germany

[edit on 15/10/2008 by Badge01]

reply to post by intelgurl
This seems like the culmanation of the Ekranoplan concept in many ways, including the supercavitaion needed to make a vehicle like this able to be reliabley submercible without damage. I had a back and forth email conversation with the editor of Janes Defence weekly back in 2003 regarding the developments of the Shkval Torpedo, and the future applications of Supercavitation technologies in future weapon systems. This is a glimpse into the future, most future naval weapon systems will incorperate this technology, just think of A Supercavation system on a current Aircraft carrier, more importantly on a SSN, days become hours, hours become minutes.
P.S. Im a huge fan of your posts, very well researched, informative, and verifiable, look forward to your future posts.

reply to post by intelgurl
This seems like the culmanation of the Ekranoplan concept in many ways, including the supercavitaion needed to make a vehicle like this able to be reliabley submercible without damage. I had a back and forth email conversation with the editor of Janes Defence weekly back in 2003 regarding the developments of the Shkval Torpedo, and the future applications of Supercavitation technologies in future weapon systems. This is a glimpse into the future, most future naval weapon systems will incorperate this technology, just think of A Supercavation system on a current Aircraft carrier, more importantly on a SSN, days become hours, hours become minutes.
P.S. Im a huge fan of your posts, very well researched, informative, and verifiable, look forward to your future posts.