Sea-to-air drone goes stealth

LAKE WALES Fla. —Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has prototyped an unmanned aerial-aquatic vehicle, aptly dubbed the Flying Fish, that the lab says is the first UAAV to use a fixed delta wing design. Stealth fighter jets have a delta (triangular) wing shape to add structural rigidity and enable the craft to dive more easily. In the Flying Fish, the delta wing maximizes the drone’s buoyant lift as it emerges from the water, enabling it to transition directly from underwater propulsion to flight, according to APL researchers.

“There are other drones that can be released underwater, float to the surface, then take off with their helicopter-like propellers, but ours is the first to use a fixed wing to fly both in air and underwater,” robotics researcher Joe Moore told EE Times. APL robotics researchers Eddie Tunstel and Robert Osiander worked with Moore on the project.

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