US achieves first submarine launch of unmanned aircraft
An unmanned aerial system has been launched successfully from a submerged US Navy submarine.
When fully developed the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) expects the system to provide mission critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities to the US Navy’s submarine force.
Operating under support of the Los Angeles class USS Providence (SSN 719) and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center-Newport Division (NUWC-NPT), the NRL-developed XFC UAS — eXperimental Fuel Cell Unmanned Aerial System— was fired from the submarine’s torpedo tube using a Sea Robin launch vehicle.
According to NRL, the Sea Robin launch system was designed to fit inside an empty Tomahawk launch canister (TLC).
Once deployed from the TLC, the Sea Robin launch vehicle with integrated XFC rose to the sea’s surface where it appeared as a spar buoy.
The XFC then vertically launched from Sea Robin and flew a successful mission demonstrating live video capabilities streamed back to Providence and surface support vessels before landing at the Naval Sea Systems Command Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC), Andros, Bahamas.
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