Interesting Toy?

[kevinkins]

Or could it one day have a military application:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw01NnG9hu0

EagleRay Experimental Cross Domain Vehicle (XAV)

[dcpollay]

Doesn't seem that unique to me. It's a seaplane. It floats, and takes off from water, and flies. Today's drones do that, except they are mostly designed to take off from land. It's a little different because it is autonomous, but that's about it.

It can go underwater because it's watertight. All ships are watertight. i'm sure it will have an application at some point, but it's not anything surprising. It's just a natural progression of drone tech.

[kevinkins]

I agree that the demo is a progression in drone technology. I just never saw a submersible drone that could also fly reduced to practice. I was thinking that the approach could deliver the stealth of a sub at the speed of an aircraft. I suppose you could deliver a autonomous sub via an aircraft. But if a commander wanted to move it rapidly to another location they would have to go get it. Thinking diabolically, a flying mine or a pop-up ASM? But how much firepower could it carry?

Here is more info I found:

https://news.ncsu.edu/2018/02/fixed-win ... rine-2018/

I doubt the kids at NCS stumbled on a game changing idea, but it's interesting to think about how it could be put to use as components get lighter and cheaper. Their technical paper states: "This vehicle concept combines the speed and range of an aircraft with the persistence, diving capabilities, and stealth of a submersible."

Here is a 2010 article that outlines the challenges:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg ... -that-fly/