US Navy’s underwater drone can recharge its batteries while attached to host ships

Lockheed Martin has unveiled its Lamprey Multi-Mission Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (LampreyMMAUV), an advanced underwater platform developed to expand the U.S. Navy’s capabilities in increasingly contested maritime environments. The system combines autonomous underwater operations with a flexible payload design, allowing it to support a variety of missions alongside existing naval vessels.

Designed for the U.S. Navy and allied forces, Lamprey can contribute to covert intelligence gathering, underwater surveillance, electronic warfare and sea-denial operations. Its distinctive design allows it to attach to a host surface ship or submarine and travel with the vessel to a designated operational area. Once there, it can separate from its host and undertake assigned missions independently.

Another important feature is its onboard battery-charging capability. Built-in hydrogenators generate power to recharge the vehicle’s batteries while it remains attached to a host platform. This enables Lamprey to reach its destination with its batteries charged and ready for operational deployment.

A different approach to undersea deployment

The vehicle’s design takes inspiration from marine life that attaches itself to larger animals or objects. Lockheed Martin has applied a similar concept to create an underwater platform capable of connecting to ships and submarines without requiring modifications to the host vessel.

Its modular payload architecture is another important element of the system. The vehicle can accommodate different mission-specific equipment, including anti-submarine torpedoes, UAV launch systems, sensors and decoys. This flexibility allows naval operators to configure the platform according to changing operational requirements. Beyond carrying equipment, Lamprey is designed to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), targeting and multi-intelligence collection. It can also deliver kinetic and non-kinetic effects, deploy equipment onto the seabed and support missions involving electronic disruption and deception.

Paul Lemmo, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and general manager of Sensors, Effectors & Mission Systems, said the platform reflects the changing demands of modern naval warfare.

“The modern battlespace demands platforms that hide, adapt and dominate,” said Paul Lemmo, vice president and general manager of Sensors, Effectors and Mission Systems at Lockheed Martin. “LampreyMMAUV 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.

Assured access and sea denial

Lockheed Martin has developed LampreyMMAUV around two central mission concepts: Assured Access and Sea Denial. The Assured Access role focuses on covert intelligence collection, persistent underwater monitoring and precision-strike capabilities. Through these functions, the vehicle can help naval commanders understand activity in strategically important maritime locations while reducing the exposure of crewed platforms to potential threats.

Sea Denial, meanwhile, is intended to limit an adversary’s freedom of movement in contested waters. LampreyMMAUV can support this objective through electronic disruption, decoy deployment and kinetic attack capabilities. Together, these functions provide commanders with additional options for responding to underwater and maritime threats.

Introduced on February 9, 2026, LampreyMMAUV is an autonomous underwater vehicle developed by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Navy and allied military forces. Its internal payload bay has a stated capacity of 24 cubic feet (approximately 0.68 cubic meters), providing space for different mission-related equipment, including torpedoes, decoys, sensors and UAV-related systems. Its built-in hydrogenators can recharge its batteries while the vehicle is attached to a host ship or submarine, helping it arrive in the operational area prepared for deployment.

Source: https://interestingengineering.com/military/lockheed-martin-lamprey-mmauv-warfare