2008-10-17

The DARPA Submersible Aircraft


The DARPA Submersible Aircraft research project is focused on making a a vehicle that can fly in the air and dive straight into the water, becoming a submarine.
Network World

Researchers want a submersible airplane

This sounds like something straight out of a James Bond movie but no, it's real and it's your government: Those way out engineers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) want to build an aircraft that's as capable of zipping through the sky as it is underwater.

clipped from www.fbo.gov

Submersible Aircraft

Solicitation Number: DARPA-BAA-09-06
Agency: Other Defense Agencies
Office: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Location: Contracts Management Office

Interestingly there was a patent issued in 2007 to Gennady Ploshkin, for a disc-shaped aircraft that could take off like a helicopter and submerge like a sub. There have been other sub-plane designs as well. Probably the most famous flying sub was in the TV show Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

clipped from www.vttbots.com
Link through for more of Thomas7g's Flying Sub images.
clipped from www.vttbots.com
Ready for take-off.
Flying Sub at work
clipped from uk.youtube.com

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Flying Sub for FS 2004Pt II

clipped from uk.youtube.com

Underwater Video RC Submarine - Flying Submarine


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Related:
Researchers want a submersible airplane | NetworkWorld.com Community
Submersible Aircraft - Federal Business Opportunities
Flying Sub Links Page.
DARPA Submersible Aircraft - Flying Sub?: Science Fiction in the News
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Gallery
Crazy Ideas: DARPA Working on a Submersible Aircraft That Can Go From Air to Sea