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bitstream [soylentnews.org] writes:

A team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab [jhuapl.edu] has announced [jhuapl.edu] the a working UAV that can take of from under water into the air [digitaltrends.com]. It's dubbed the Corrosion Resistant Aerial Covert Unmanned Nautical System (CRACUNS). The drone can reside for months underwater without deteriorating or decaying due to a coating on exposed parts and water tightening others. Given a signal, the CRACUNS will rise to the water surface and begin flight, capable of undertaking a variety of missions. Watch the demonstration video [youtube.com] at 1:39 that also says that it's capable to handle a depth of several "hundreds of feet" (many people must have sacrificed their precious body parts :p).

To accomplish this, the body has to do without any structural metal parts or machined surfaces. The composite body has to be extremely lightweight, handle salt water and constant water pressure without leaks. The project manager says the engineers at APL have long worked on both Navy submarine systems and autonomous UAVs. Due to evolving sponsor challenges they were inspired to develop a vehicle that could operate both underwater and in the air [jhuapl.edu].

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