There are a lot of new inventions and weird man-made gadgets or machines that are truly amazing and stunning in all the ways possible. Such a thing would be combining an attack helicopter and a stealth jet fighter. Actually, the guys at Juliet Marine Systems from New Hampshire have really done it – they’ve designed the Ghost marine platform.
Possibly being destined for US Navy’s use, the project has been developed in complete privacy, while the manufacturers assure us that the vessel is invisible to radars, while also being more economically efficient and a lot faster. They also declare that it’s the first super-cavitating watercraft in the world.
This principle refers to the process of surrounding an item with air so that it goes faster and smoother through water, downing the friction coefficient. The main structures that assure this to the Ghost are the two submerged buoyant tubular foils.
The particular system used here is represented by the fact that when the boat’s gas turbines propel it forward, the mass of water it passes through is deflected outward at the front of each foil – this creates the cavity we were talking about. All these drastically reduce the friction between the hull and the environment, considering that friction in air is 900 times less significant than in water.
Not yet destined for heavy naval fights, these vessels could be used as patrol vehicles around the perimeter of naval fleets or as light protection for commercial vessels from pirates.
Being easy to man by a crew of only three and featuring an internal weapons bay, the ships can carry “thousands of pounds of weapons, including Mark 48 torpedoes” as well as incorporate multiple weapon systems, allowing multi-targeting. Its stealthy aspect could make it a quiet troop-transporter to enemy beaches, or it may be able to transport supplies and man-force to remote on-water locations, like oil platforms.
Though JMS hasn’t yet reported any sales for such a vessel yet, they mentioned having started a 150-foot version project of the same watercraft plus they’re also planning an unmanned underwater vehicle based on the principle of cavitation.
[Gizmag]
Perfect for any James Bond villain.
this is cool