Sub-Carrier: How to Combine Aircraft Carriers and Submarines
Sub-Carriers: Revolutionizing Undersea Warfare with Drone Technology
Aircraft carriers are flat-top floating airports and submarines lurk beneath the surface and launch torpedoes, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles. It’s been that way for decades. But did you know it is plausible that a submarine could have a flat-top and send combat drones into the air? The “sub-carrier” would launch its aircraft and then head for the depths.
Quite a departure for undersea warfare, to be sure. But this idea could have legs someday as the Navy examines different ideas for unmanned aviation on the high seas.
Unknown to many, the U.S. Navy has already tested flying a small recon drone called the Sea Robin, which took off from a submarine’s torpedo tube in 2013.
In 2016, the Navy announced it was working to send “stealthy spy drones” called Blackwings into the air from tubes on the sub. So, submarine-launched drones are more than just a fanciful concept.