The new Manta Ray underwater drone from Northrop Grumman will shake up undersea warfare. This advanced technology just conquered one of the biggest problems deep-sea platforms face: communication. All traditional military platforms need a strong reliance on radio communications, which is especially ineffective underwater given the ocean’s highly conductive saltwater. For example, America’s nuclear ballistic missile submarines require Very Low Frequency or VLF transmissions relayed through huge antenna complexes scattered around the world. If these stations were compromised, TACAMO aircraft would then deploy five-mile-long antennas to pass on messages to submarines deep beneath the waves.
The Manta Ray might be able to use VLF communications, but its “data bubbles” released from Thermal Energy Pods provide an easier means of frequent communication. This is a major factor for an unmanned submarine being designed for long missions where autonomous operation, with minimal surface interaction, would be required. Control autonomously via AI will be a key factor in the functionality of the Manta Ray.
Beyond communication, the Manta Ray will have to be designed to overcome intractable issues such as power generation, corrosion mitigation, the avoidance of underwater obstacles, and very high reliability during extremely long missions in harsh conditions.
Strategically, Manta Ray could dramatically bolster anti-submarine warfare-particularly against hostile submarines armed with nuclear weapons. While Russia is doing terribly in Ukraine, its capabilities in undersea warfare are not so bad, with great potential to unsettle American security. Russia operates two classes of nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines and continues producing modernized Borei-A-class vessels. Russia’s Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System, also known as Poseidon, is a high-speed nuclear torpedo with an alleged range of 5,400 nautical miles at speeds as high as 54 knots. The torpedoes can remain inside enemy harbors awaiting the onset of conflict.
In 2017, a Russian military documentary made the astonishing assertion that a fleet of long-range cruise missile-carrying Russian Shchuka-B-class submarines had operated undetected just outside American ports. The U.S. Navy took this threat seriously, re-establishing its North Atlantic-based 2nd Fleet to counter emerging Russian threats. The growing confrontational actions and capabilities of Russian submarines are an increasing challenge to U.S. and NATO security, said Adm. James Foggo III.
Since then, the U.S. has invested in new submarine detection methods, such as the Persistent Aquatic Living Sensors program, which uses aquatic sealife behavior to identify encroaching submarines. The Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel program tries to field semi-autonomous submarine-hunting surface ships.
Manta Ray by Northrop Grumman will form an increasingly central impact on America’s antisubmarine arsenal to provide undetectable and weaponized presence on a sustainable basis while being switched off, with known submarine activity precipitating automated responses from surface and subsurface platforms from that time onwards.
DARPA isn’t putting all its eggs in the Northrop Grumman basket; other Manta-Ray platforms are also in development. As Commander Kyle Woerner, program manager for the system, described the different approaches to overcome the UUV endurance problem: Every solution points to a vibrant problem for which there is not one single silver bullet solution.
DARPA just announced that the Manta Ray has finished initial tests in California, validating its readiness for real-world operation. The drone demonstrated several modes of propulsion and steering, demonstrating its potential to stay out for long-duration missions without refueling. The Manta Ray will seek to tap into the energy resources of the ocean through various currents and waves to power the device in operation, not equipped with a nuclear engine as found in Russia’s Poseidon.
Meanwhile, PacMar Technologies, the other contractor on the Manta Ray program, will continue full-scale energy harvesting system testing throughout the years to come r in further developing this game-changing technology.