Chinese scientists have developed a “flying” underwater drone. A new drone could be one of the cheapest and most effective ways to disable an aircraft carrier’s defense system.

A research team in eastern China claims to have developed and tested a prototype underwater drone that can swim underwater and then fly rapidly through the air. According to experts, the autonomous drone can perform both military and civilian tasks such as underwater mine control.

The drone can slowly approach an underwater target and stay in one place for a significant amount of time because it is propelled by four propellers, including an oblique front pair.

Once the drone reaches the water surface, the two large wings that fold over its back open up, allowing it to fly at speeds of up to 120 km/h, about twice as fast as a conventional drone powered by rotor blades.

Professor Ang Haisong, a lead researcher at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said the drone “consumes very little energy in fixed-wing cruise flight, so it can perform long-range missions in the air.”

A researcher working on similar technologies at the Northwest Polytechnic University in Xi’an said China has developed multiple “transmedia ships” that can travel by both air and water.

“They’re mostly for military purposes. Some can fly at supersonic speeds,” said the researcher.

According to Ji Wanfeng, a professor at Yantai Naval Aviation University, such a “transmedia carrier” is one of the easiest and most effective ways to disable an aircraft carrier’s defenses.

Ji and colleagues estimate that a modern warship’s multi-layered defense system could hit nearly half of all incoming aircraft, missiles or drones. However, they explain that the “transmedia ship” could sink if detected by radar and resurface to avoid sonar. Even a small fraction of these drones can overwhelm or confuse a warship’s computer systems.

According to Ji’s team’s report, if the transmedia craft could fly at more than 150 km/h, the survival rate would be close to 100% when launched from a distance of 100 km.

This type of unmanned aerial vehicle can carry out effective attacks on “important enemy targets. “It will certainly be a powerful addition to the current methods and tactics of the Chinese Navy,” he said.

An air cushion in the belly of the “flying submarine” created by Ang’s team can be filled with water to change buoyancy, allowing the drone to maintain a certain depth without making noise with its propellers. Its sleek hull, reminiscent of a traditional submarine as it moves through the water with folded wings, provides less drag and greater maneuverability.

According to Ang’s team, surface waves and the drone’s simultaneous interaction with air and water make the takeoff process unstable if the vehicle rises directly out of the water. To fix this, they created an advanced control system that allows the underwater drone to glide through the waves before takeoff.