No. 180

Maritime Batmobile Hopes to Combat Pirates, Iran

The U.S. military already has an unmanned batwing and Batman-style utility belts. So it only makes sense that the defense industry would try to sell the Navy on a batboat.

Meet Ghost, the kind of boat Batman would pilot if the Dark Knight was interested in fighting pirates or the Iranian navy. At least those are the kinds of missions its developers are pitching it for. Juliet Marine Systems, Inc. says Ghost is a “high speed attack craft” useful for everything from counterpiracy in the Gulf of Aden and fighting off swarming Iranian small boats in the Strait of Hormuz, to more humdrum tasks such as resupplying far-flung oil rigs out at sea.

So how exactly would Ghost fight off these foes? This week, Juliet Marine Systems announced it was in the market for a weapons integrator. The company is looking for off-the-shelf gear and says Ghost is capable of holding a few thousand pounds worth of weapons, including Mark 48 torpedoes. Whatever it ends up packing, Ghost is designed to tuck its gear inside an internal weapons bay in order to reduce its radar cross section.

If you’d like a Ghost of your own, take heart. The ship might be made available to private customers. Juliet Marine Systems said in a March press release that it’s also “discussing with the shipping industry the use of GHOST boats to provide private security patrols for their ships and insurance customers.”

Read more |  Wired, 13.01.12

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