Manta Ray High-Endurance Underwater Drone Unveiled
The testbed that mimics its namesake is designed to help DARPA hone its requirements for a new class of multi-mission submersible drones.
According to Northrop, the testbed is payload-capable in order to "support a variety of missions." The specific kinds of payloads it will boast remain unclear; however, DARPA specifies the need for a "large payload capacity" in order for different mission sets to be executed. The design certainly has large internal volume, and video of the concept shows it deploying a tethered vehicle of some kind. Using Manta Ray as a mothership for smaller UUVs would make sense, but really it could conceivably carry many types of payloads, including direct weaponization via a warhead. But missions like undersea mapping, mine detection, and passive surveillance could all be of great use.
https://www.twz.com/sea/manta-ray-extreme-endurance-underwater-drone-unveiled
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