US robotics firm introduces underwater glider family for multi-year missions
General Atomics described a family of buoyancy-driven underwater gliders intended to transport sensors, smaller autonomous underwater vehicles and potentially deployable aerial drones over prolonged submerged missions. Its existing 6.7-metre large-displacement demonstrator has supported submerged trials lasting up to 70 days, while planned larger vehicles measuring roughly 30 to 41 metres target multiyear endurance. The proposed blended-wing, low-power architecture would combine glider propulsion with auxiliary thrusters and modular cargo spaces for intelligence collection and other mission payloads. These long-endurance figures are development ambitions for future extra-large designs, not evidence that the largest variants have already completed multiyear operational deployments.