Another Bid to Build a Flying Submarine

Submarines that can fly like airplanes have been promoted in science fiction entertainment for many years. As early as the 1960s, in the Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea movie and television series, a flying sub often used for exploration, was contained in the belly of a larger submarine called the Seaview.

A futuristic craft that is both submarine for sale and can fly has rescued James Bond from certain calamity in the movies of that genre. Of course, a submarine that can become an aircraft is still only science fiction fantasy and does not exist anywhere in the world today.

The difficulty in creating such an invention is the reason that a flying submarine exists today only in the imagination of Hollywood entertainment. The construction of such a vehicle would require material that needs to meet the unique and diverse needs of both a submarine and an airplane.

Aircraft are designed to be light and buoyant. Submarines, on the other hand, need weight to remain submerged, as well as thickness to sustain the pressure of being underwater. Differences in the densities of water and air, in velocities, and loading requirements make for aircraft and submarine design requirements that actually work against each other. It is why the Navy failed in an attempt many years ago to construct a submarine that can fly.

In 1964, the Bureau of Naval Weapons awarded a contract to Convair to examine the feasibility of a "submersible flying boat," which was being called the "sub-plane" by those involved with the project. The Convair study determined that such a craft was "feasible" and a contract was awarded to the company but only two years later, the Navy would cancel the project.

However, The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) thinks the time is now right to have contractors bid on the possibility of making yesterdays Hollywood science fiction a modern day reality. Darpa has a budget of 3 billion dollars and the Agency has already received bids from defense contractors in response to its Request For Proposal (RFP) to build a submersible aircraft of the future.

The Defense Agency wants to build a submersible aircraft that would combine the key capabilities of three different platforms: (1) the speed and range of an aircraft; (2) the capabilities of a boat; and (3) the stealth of a submarine. By combining the beneficial characteristics of each platform, DARPA hopes to develop a craft that will significantly enhance the United States tactical advantage in coastal insertion missions.

The proposed craft would hold eight soldiers plus all their gear and could support them in a floating surface craft for 72 hours. It would have a 1,000 mile aerial range and a 12 mile submerged range. Certainly, a flying submarine would be used to great advantage for the deployment of special operations military forces in difficult and dangerous missions.