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Sea Ferret

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Sea Ferret was a submarine-launched aerial reconnaissance drone under development by the United States Navy, designed to be launched from within a Sub-Harpoon missile canister and controlled by a submerged submarine to provide covert surveillance, weapons targeting, choke point interdiction, and battle damage assessment.

While its primary mission was reconnaissance, Sea Ferret was a weapon, carrying a nine-kilogram (20 lb) warhead, capable of destroying smaller targets like command centers and surface-to-air missile launchers.

Sea Ferret was under development by Northrop Grumman Corporation since 1991, and was successfully demonstrated onboard Asheville (SSN-758).

General characteristics

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  • Weight: 145 lb (66 kg)
  • Length: 75 in (1.9 m) long
  • Range: 370 nautical miles (685 km)
  • Loiter: 2 hours
  • Speed: 300 knots (550 km/h) maximum, 80 knots (148 km/h) minimum
  • Warhead: 20 lb (9 kg)
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