“Vampire Fish” VIDEO. A new type of underwater drone that attaches itself to submarines or the hull of ships
Lamprey drone on the sea floor / Source: Lockheed Martin video capture
US arms manufacturer Lockheedn Martin has unveiled a new class of smart, stealthy and multi-role submarine drones built to disrupt and repel enemy forces at sea. Named Lamprey, after the lamprey or “vampire fish”, the drone can attach itself to the hull of ships, charge its batteries on the fly and then launch itself to intercept enemy ships, either through sensors or munitions such as torpedoes or kamikaze mini-drones.
The LampreyMMAUV (Multi-Mission Autonomous Undersea Vehicle), announced on Monday by the American giant Lockheed Martin, is a new type of underwater drones that were designed to be left waiting in the water or on the seabed, detect own or enemy forces, attach to own ships for a quick movement and then disrupt the advance of hostile ships.
The Lamprey can be modified for a wide range of operations, from the seabed to the surface, according to the company cited by Defensenews. The drone can stay on the ocean floor and recharge its batteries by attaching to a host ship, in addition to collecting information from the ocean floor while providing a profile that is difficult for other ships' sensors to detect.
Launch torpedoes, decoys or kamikaze mini-drones
The drone has an interior space of about 0.68 cubic meters (or 680 liters) where it can store sensors or ammunition, according to Lockheed Martin.
Underwater, the Lamprey can launch both anti-submarine torpedoes and decoy munitions to confuse enemy ships and torpedoes. On the surface, the Lamprey can launch short-range mini-drones to monitor the airspace, but also to launch kamikaze attacks.
“[Lamprey] was internally funded, allowing us to iterate at lightning speed and provide the Navy with a true multi-mission weapon that detects, disrupts, engages and engages on its own,” said Paul Lemmo, vice president and general manager of Sensors, Effectors and Mission Systems at Lockheed Martin, in a press statement.
Like many autonomous systems, Lamprey can be deployed in swarms and communicate with other unmanned systems to accomplish missions. It also has advanced surveillance technology it can deploy on the surface, the company said.
