“Engineers at APL have long worked on both Navy submarine systems and autonomous UAVs,” said Jason Stipes of APL’s Sea Control Mission Area, project manager for CRACUNS. “In response to evolving sponsor challenges, we were inspired to develop a vehicle that could operate both underwater and in the air.”
The 3D printed drone is lightweight but tough, capable of withstanding water pressure several hundred feet below the surface without requiring structural metal parts or machined surfaces. It can be docked either at an underwater station or on an unmanned submarine and controlled remotely; once its controllers have released the CRACUNS, it shoots to the surface, bobs for a moment, then takes off into the air on its mysterious mission. The drone’s developers haven’t said what exactly those missions may be, but have noted that its resistance harsh conditions and its “payload flexibility” make it ideal for a wide variety of applications.
“CRACUNS successfully demonstrated a new way of thinking about the fabrication and use of unmanned systems,” said Richard Hooks, an aerospace and mechanical engineer at APL, responsible for the 3D printed design of the drone.
3D printing the drone had a lot of advantages; besides the light weight and sturdy waterproof structure, a 3D printed drone is also much cheaper to manufacture, meaning that hordes of CRACUNS can be created and deployed for high-risk missions. If a drone is damaged or destroyed, it’s easy and inexpensive to replace it, which gives its operators a lot more flexibility when it comes to its uses.
“APL’s culture of innovation and mission-ready solutions continues to deliver success for our sponsors,” said Sea Control Mission Area Executive Christopher Watkins.
While those particular sponsors weren’t named, it’s pretty clear that CRACUNS is intended to play a significant role in naval operations. How soon it will go into operation also remains to be seen, but I’m betting it won’t be long considering how successful it has been in testing. What do you think of the purpose this technology is playing here? Discuss in the 3D Printed Drones forum over at 3DPB.com.