Submersible Aircraft Concept Design Study

Abstract

The submersible aircraft study combines the speed and range of an airborne platform with the stealth of an underwater vehicle by developing a vessel that can both fly and submerge. The study explores the feasibility of a design capable of insertion and extraction of Special Forces at greater ranges, higher speeds, and in locations not previously accessible without direct support from additional military assets. The concept design goals are to find a solution space for the feasibility of a vessel capable of multi-modal operations (airborne, surface, and submerged) that can also easily transition between these modes of operation. Within this study a variety of technologies including developing technologies are considered. Materials and structures that provide the desirable characteristics for both a submerged and airborne platform are exploited in order to overcome the major challenges that the design of a submersible aircraft poses.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2010
Accession Number
ADA554344

Entities

People

  • Jonathan Eastgate
  • Rick Goddard

Organizations

  • Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerodynamic Configurations
  • Aircraft Equipment
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • All Wing Aircraft
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Control Surfaces
  • Control Systems
  • Fluids
  • Flying Submarines
  • High Lift Devices
  • Hydrofoils
  • Navy
  • Propulsion Systems
  • Submarine Hulls
  • Three Dimensional

Readers

  • Adaptive Control and Estimation with Uncertainty in Dynamic Systems.
  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Oceanography.

Technology Areas

  • Space