Javier Diez was toying with the idea of a drone that could fly and swim underwater.

But when the Office of Naval Research came knocking to the professor's prototype, called "the Naviator," they practically tripped over themselves to fund his research when they saw what it could do.

According to ONR, the drone could be useful for hunting mines, but Diez thinks it could be used for locating wrecks, mapping the spread of oil spills and search and rescue operations, according to a Rutgers University release.

There is still some work to do. Right now the drone is connected to a wire, and Diez is working on a model that can fly wirelessly. It also has to be operable in seawater, which is no small lift because of the hazard salt water poses to sensitive electronics.

But he'll have some money to work with. ONR sent him a $618,000 grant to further the research.

"By next summer, we plan to demonstrate a vehicle that can swim in a seawater environment and do complex maneuvers," he said in the release. "At that point, we'll start to outfit it with whatever sensors the Navy wants to have, such as cameras and sonar detectors."

About David B. Larter

David B. Larter was the naval warfare reporter for Defense News.

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