A Swimming Robot Aircraft in Development

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The company responsible for some of aviations most secretive aircraft such as the SR71 Blackbird and the U2 Spy Plane, Lockheed Martin – specifically its Skunk Works division – is developing a new breed of pilotless strike aircraft that is as happy in the water as it is in the air.

Powered by two engines developed from those used on the Tomahawk cruise missile system, the Cormorant would feature morphing wings which would allow it to adapt to both airborne and waterborne flight.

Weighing in at four tonnes, its mission would be to fly to hostile, coastal based environments and then seek the relative safety of the water, down to depths of 150ft, where it would creep up on targets and initiate attacks by releasing its missiles underwater. Having completed its attack, the Cormorant would then slip silently away until, once at a safe distance, it would power itself out of the water to make its flight home where it would splashdown to be recovered by its host submarine.

A reconnaissance version is also being planned. The Defence Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is already engaged in its proof of concept trails which, if successful, could lead to a full scale prototype of the Cormorant being developed.