With more than 300 ships, a battle fleet exceeding 3 million tons, the United States has the largest and strongest Navy in the world. During World War I, the US Navy began widely using submarines to gain a stealthy tactical edge. The advantage of a subversive warship is that they can easily be anywhere in the world while remaining invisible. Submarines can be used for surveillance and reconnaissance and can carry and deploy nuclear warheads. Of the US Navy’s substantial active submarine fleet there are 14 SSBN (Submersible Ship Ballistic Nuclear), 4 SSGN (Guided Nuclear), 37 SSN (Nuclear attack) subs. In late 2019, the US Navy invested $22 billion to enhance its submarine fleet.

With such a large investment being made into submarines, tests must be made to continue supporting the position of the Navy’s submarine program. One of the drawbacks of submarines is that to keep their positions secret, they only come up every few months for supplies and other necessary activities. Finding ways to covertly deliver supplies or messages to a submarine is something the Navy has been toying with for some time. On October 19, 2020, the Navy successfully ran a test using a drone to make a delivery to a deployed submarine.

The trial was conducted with a Perimeter drone made by Skyfront, an aviation company based out of Menlo Park, California. Skyfront was founded by Anton Stepanov and Troy Mestler in 2014 “to solve the flight time limitation and unlock the true economic potential of unmanned aerial vehicles,” as stated on their website. After months of research, Skyfront came up with a hybrid-electric propulsion drone that can remain airborne for extended periods. Their platform, the Perimeter, has the same endurance, capabilities, and safety features of a manned helicopter, but reduces the cost of operation 10 times.

Converting gasoline into a hybrid-electric propulsion engine means that without any modifications the Perimeter has a 5 hour flight time. The drone is designed around the fuel system to make it a fully integrated system that operates as seamlessly as a standard battery operated drone. The strength of the fuel system also allows the Perimeter to support a sizeable payload without affecting flight time. A standard delivery drone can only support an additional payload of 4-5lbs with a flight time of around 20 minutes. This means that standard drones also have a limited flight range. The Perimeter has a 12lb payload capacity and a flight range of more than 100 miles. Skyfront’s website goes on to state, “With the Perimeter, missions that used to take days can now be performed in a single flight, enabling entire industries to scale their drone operations with ease.”

For the Navy, these drone operations could mean the delivery of medications or sensitive communications without a submarine needing to come into port. The Perimeter drone delivery on October 19th took place in the Pacific Ocean in an undisclosed location near the Hawaiian Islands. Electronics Technician, Submarine, Navigation 1st Class Carlos Gonzalez piloted the Perimeter from a small vessel to the Ohio-class Henry M. Jackson SSBN 730. As the drone approached the submarine, Gonzalez transferred the control of the drone over to a pilot onboard the sub, demonstrating Perimeter’s unique control hand-off capability. As a representative from Skyfornt explains, “The capability is essential for long range missions to maintain line-of-sight control by using multiple distributed pilots to comply with some countries’ aviation rules and regulations. It also allows pilots to maintain full control of the vehicle while flying over rugged terrain where radio links are likely to be compromised by line-of-sight obstructions.”

A day after the Perimeter test, the Navy released a video taken by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Devin M. Langer. While the Navy did not disclose what was in the drone’s payload, from the footage it appeared to be a small package. The Navy also ran tests with a helicopter delivering a larger package to the same submarine. The only information they did share was that the goal was to test fleet replenishment anytime or anywhere. In the video’s description, it states, “This event was designed to test and evaluate the tactics, techniques, and procedures of U.S. Strategic Command’s expeditionary logistics and enhance the overall readiness of our strategic forces.”

SSBN’s have been one of the cornerstones of the US Navy since the 1940s. Over the decades, the way these submarines are used, and the technology that supports them has steadily progressed. Being able to remain hidden has always been a key to the success of any submarine. Now, as stealthy drones can be used to deliver payloads to submarines, their locations can be protected even when they need to come up to the surface.