Lockheed Martin on Monday unveiled its Lamprey Multi‑Mission Autonomous Undersea Vehicle, an unmanned underwater vehicle that can attach itself to ships, launch torpedoes and deploy airborne drones.
With a 24-foot payload bay, the Lamprey can be modified to perform a wide range of operations, from the seabed to the surface, according to the company. It can loiter on the ocean floor and recharge its batteries by attaching to a host ship, in addition to collecting intelligence from the ocean floor while offering a low stealth profile.
Below the surface, the Lamprey can launch both antisubmarine torpedoes and decoys. At surface level, it can launch unmanned aerial vehicles into the air to conduct reconnaissance or deliver kinetic strikes. These capabilities enable the system to conduct antiship warfare both at surface level and underwater.
“[Lamprey] was internally funded, letting us iterate at lightning speed and hand the Navy a true multi-mission weapon that detects, disrupts, decoys and engages on its own,” Paul Lemmo, vice president and general manager of sensors, effectors and mission systems at Lockheed Martin, said in a statement.
Like many autonomous systems, the Lamprey can be deployed in swarms and communicate with other unmanned systems to perform missions. It also features advanced surveillance technology that it can deploy at surface level, the company said.
Zita Ballinger Fletcher previously served as editor of Military History Quarterly and Vietnam magazines and as the historian of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. She holds an M.A. with distinction in military history.
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