* U.S. SECRET SERVICE SEEKS 007-STYLE FLYING SUB

* U.S. SECRET SERVICE SEEKS 007-STYLE FLYING SUB A competition has been launched to find a James Bond-style flying submarine for the American secret service. The new flying sub would be used to drop small teams of special forces along coastlines without being seen. DARPA, the top secret American defence research agency, launched the competition to find a design for a craft which will be used by teams of special forces. The agency wants the craft to "maintain its tactical advantage for future coastal insertion missions". Millions of dollars will be spent developing the most promising design by the agency, which was behind the development of the internet. Spokeswoman Jan Walker says, "DARPA has a budget of USD $3billion. "We issue these requests for submissions on a regular basis and we welcome ideas from anybody. We have regular large and small firms who we work with but we are open to submissions from anywhere." The flying sub design will have to transport eight men and their equipment 1,149 miles (1,850 kilometres) by air, 115 miles (185 kilometres) by sea or 13.7 miles (22 kilometres) travelling underwater, in less than eight hours, and wait for up to three days to pick them up again. DARPA admits that past efforts in the same area included failed designs to make a submarine fly: "Prior attempts to demonstrate a vehicle with the manoeuvrability of both a submersible and an aircraft have primarily explored approaches that would endow flight capability to platforms that were largely optimised for underwater operations. Unfortunately these attempts have been unsuccessful." Entries must be submitted before the 1 December (08) deadline. (WN) USA - October, 2008 This is a PR photo. WENN does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright or License in the attached material. Fees charged by WENN are for WENN's services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material. By publishing this material you expressly agree to indemnify and to hold WENN and its directors, shareholders and employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), or any causes of action or allegation against WENN arising out of or connected in any way with publication of the material. Supplied by WENN