The modified stealthy affordable capsule system (SACS) would draw on Northrop’s work in support of two October 2004 test launches of its miniature air-launched decoy from the US Navy’s Ohio-class submarine USS Georgia.

A trial submerged launch of a Raytheon AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile using a development of the capsule is planned for next March, with launch from a submarine planned for the fourth quarter of 2007.

Northrop is also flagging the AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missile as a candidate for the encapsulation system, and displayed mock-ups of all three SACS-housed missiles during the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s Unmanned Systems North America exhibition in Orlando, Florida last month.

Northrop says the SACS design could be used to launch a variety of fixed-wing UAVs by using “clamshell” opening techniques after it leaves the water. A UAV variant could use gas overpressure or rocket boosters to provide flight velocities once the capsule opens, it says.