Role & capabilities
- Long-duration autonomy research
- Modular expeditionary transport
- Payload accommodation trials
- Primary domain
- Underwater
- System type
- Autonomous underwater vehicle
- Developer / manufacturer
- Northrop Grumman for DARPA
- Origin / production countries
- United States
- Other names
- DARPA Manta Ray
- Variants / configurations
- Named configuration; see the evidence and specification notes
- Operators / programme customers
- DARPA / Northrop Grumman test programme
Evidence & current status
Research and demonstrator status only. The separate PacMar technology effort under the same DARPA programme is not conflated with Northrop Grumman's vehicle.
Manta Ray is Northrop Grumman's full-scale underwater demonstrator for a DARPA programme investigating persistent, payload-carrying autonomous vehicles. It combines buoyancy-driven gliding with propellers and control surfaces, so it sits across the boundary between conventional AUVs and underwater gliders. The design also explores lower-energy waiting states and modular transport, intended to make long missions less dependent on continuous support.
DARPA reported full-scale in-water testing off Southern California in February and March 2024. Those trials demonstrated propulsion, steering and submerged hydrodynamic behaviour. The vehicle was transported in sections from Maryland and assembled at the test location, documenting a practical feature beyond an artist's concept. Northrop Grumman describes transport in five standard shipping containers and multiple payload accommodations. The reviewed primary sources do not publish dependable numeric endurance, range, operating depth or payload mass figures, so none is inferred from photographs or aspirational language. Manta Ray is a demonstrated research vehicle; the programme's transition discussions with the US Navy do not establish an operational fleet.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Configuration | Extra-large autonomous underwater demonstrator | Published specification for the cited configuration; payload, environment and speed affect performance. Source ↗ |
| Hull / propulsion | Buoyancy gliding, propellers and control surfaces | Published specification for the cited configuration; payload, environment and speed affect performance. Source ↗ |
| Dimensions | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Displacement / mass | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Payload | Multiple payload bays; public mass allowance not established | Published specification for the cited configuration; payload, environment and speed affect performance. Source ↗ |
| Endurance | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Range | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Speed | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Operating depth | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Sensors | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Communications / control | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Launch / deployment | Modular transport in five standard shipping containers, followed by local assembly | Transport arrangement, not a claim that deployment needs no support equipment. Source ↗ |
Documented milestones
Full-scale water trials reported
DARPA reported February–March 2024 testing of the Northrop Grumman prototype's underwater propulsion and steering modes.
Read the announcement ↗
Publication history
- — Added sourced land and maritime coverage with domain-specific evidence and limitations.
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Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.