Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman announced the completion of their ‘Manta Ray’ underwater drone that was built as part of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program and there has truly never been anything like this before.
Due to the nature of the project, large portions of how the Manta Ray drone will operate remain secret. For instance, most long-range underwater drones have a range of several hours to a day or two at most and require a mothership nearby for recharging. Northrop Grumman hasn’t revealed how it will work, but the Manta Ray drone will harness the power of the ocean and thus can stay at sea and undetected by enemy submarines for longer than any unmanned submersible ever created.
Over a year ago, Northrup Grumman shared a video overview of their new drone. Since then, the world has learned a lot more but this was the first major look at the Manta Ray:
Reporter Alex Hollings is EIC of Sandboxx News and US Marine veteran. He has gained a huge following on TikTok where he covers US military developments and I found his explanation of Northrup Grumman’s Manta Ray drone to be the best video on this drone (so far).
@alexhollings52 The Manta Ray could make the ocean much more dangerous for enemy submarines, and a whole lot more. #mantaray #northrop #northropgrumman #submersible #submarine #uuv #drone #usnavy #navy #usmilitary #military #miltok #darpa #defense #seapower #ai #artificialintelligence #tech #technology #b2 #b21 #sub #submarines
This new space-age underwater drone will be able to ‘hibernate’ on the sea floor in order to conserve power. It will (allegedly be able to harness the power of the ocean using currents and temperature fluctuations in order recharge its batteries.
On NG’s website for the Manta Ray, they list out some capabilities for this unmanned drone:
— Payload-capable to support a variety of missions
— Autonomous, without the need for on-site human logistics
— Energy-saving, with the ability to anchor to the seafloor and hibernate in a low-power state
It is also built to be modular and easy to shop worldwide and assembled in the field so it can theoretically go anywhere, anytime in the ocean and stay out for unknown periods of time.
Noticeably absent from that list is how a drone of this nature would be able to shadow enemy submarines for extended periods of time while remaining completely undetected. The potential of this drone to remain at sea for months without being detected while mimicking aquatic life movement and theoretically getting close to enemy targets is just wild to try think about.