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Versatile upper payload deck
Houses FPV drones, EW modules, and buoyant relay sensors, swapped between missions without touching the hull.
FPV · EW · ISR
Overview
One hull, three effects
SpiderEgg is a modular UUV that carries three small kinetic effectors, the Spiders, in a lower payload bay, and an upper deck for FPV drones, EW modules, or sensor pods. It is built around commercial off the shelf components so it can be mass produced, and it launches from submarine torpedo tubes, surface vessels, or shore.
My work covered the vehicle architecture, the hull and nose hydrodynamics, the payload bay release mechanism, and the simulation campaign that validated the core physics.
The core idea
Energetic coupling
The three Spiders coordinate their terminal detonations in time and space. Their gas bubbles grow into each other, and the hydrodynamic interaction between them amplifies the combined blast well beyond the sum of the parts.
Simulated and validated with Stanford's Flow Physics and Computational Engineering Lab, the effect reaches lethality equivalent to the Mk 48, the Navy's only heavyweight torpedo option, using 52% of the ordnance.
Liquid volume fraction Frame 1 / 33
Traction
Built with the customer in the room
Over 180 stakeholder interviews, including 20 admirals and 30 acquisition officers, shaped the requirements before the first part was cut. That work turned into funding, a research agreement, and an industry partner.
- $100K Equity-free funding from the Defense Innovation Unit.
- CRADA Cooperative research agreement signed with the U.S. Navy.
- Big 5 Teaming agreement with a top-five defense prime.
- 20 / 30 Admirals and acquisition officers interviewed directly.
