The Navy’s swimming spy plane

Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works is considering the possibility to build an airplane that starts and ends its mission 150 feet underwater.

The Cormorant, a jet-powered, autonomous aircraft that could be outfitted with either short-range weapons or surveillance equipment, is designed to launch out of the Trident missile tubes in some of the U.S. Navy's gigantic Cold War--era Ohio-class submarines. The subs have become less useful in a military climate evolved to favor surgical strikes over nuclear stalemates, but the Cormorant would have gull wings that hinge around its body to fit inside the subs' now-vacant tubes.

An arm-like docking "saddle" would guide the Cormorant out, sending it floating to the surface. As the drone pops out of the water, the rocket boosters fire and the Cormorant takes off.

After completing its mission, the plane flies to the coordinates it receives from the sub and lands in the sea. The sub then launches a robotic underwater vehicle to fetch the floating drone.

The tests should be completed by September, after which DARPA will decide whether it will fund a flying prototype.

Via CNN. Also seen on the raw feed < Pop sci.