Another great idea for the us military and us navy . This fast attack stealth boat will make a difference. GHOST is a super-cavitating surface craft which is able to achieve 900 times less hull friction compared to a conventional watercraft and is developed by US Citizens for the US Navy at no cost to the US government for providing superior protection to US service personnel. The craft was built by Juliet Marine Systems. The secrecy orders on the project were removed on 11 August 2011[1] Design The Ghost uses a gyro-stabilized dual-pontoon supercavitating hull to run at top speed through 10-foot seas. Called small waterplane-area twin-hull (SWATH), it is controlled by 22 computer-controlled underwater control surfaces. When at rest or moving slowly, the Ghost sits in the water on its centerline module. At eight knots or faster, the high-grade marine aluminum buoyant hulls lift the vessel and achieve full stability. Propulsion on the prototype is provided by T53-703 turboshaft engines, with the company planning to replace them with the General Electric T700 turboshaft. The Ghost has achieved speeds of over 30 knots, and is being tested to 50 knots. It can perform several different missions including anti-surface warfare (ASuW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), and mine countermeasures (MCM): ASuW armament consists of the M197 20mm rotary cannon and launch tubes that expel exhaust downward between the struts of the SWATH hulls, concealing and dissipating the thermal signature of the launch for BGM-176B Griffin missiles and Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System rockets, with an electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor and radar; an ASW version could be equipped with an EO/IR sensor, radar, sonobuoy launch tubes, a dipping sonar, and four aft-firing torpedo tubes; an MCM version could be equipped with a towing boom to lower and raise two towed mine-hunting sonars, such as the Kline 5000 or Raytheon AN/AQS-20A. The current Ghost costs $10 million per copy, is crewed by 3-5 sailors, and can be partially disassembled to fit in a C-17 Globemaster III for transport if needed. It is designed for fleet protection for navies with few blue-water needs but require a small and affordable craft in large numbers for near-shore maritime border patrol and defense missions; it is being offered to international customers including Bahrain, Qatar, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore. High-level discussions have been held with a foreign nation interested in 25 Ghosts for a potential $300 million sale. Juliet Marine is also offering a scaled-up version of the Ghost to the U.S. Navy as part of their re-evaluation of the Littoral Combat Ship program. Plans are to build a corvette-sized Ghost of 150 ft (46 m) in length or more costing about $50 million per vessel, six times cheaper than the $300 million per-ship cost of a current Freedom-class and Independence-class littoral combat ship. One impediment to the U.S. Navy procuring the Ghost is the desire of senior Navy leaders to have large-hulled oceangoing vessels that can also perform inshore operations rather than smaller craft specialized for inshore missions.[2][3] Juliet Marine Systems is a maritime technology think tank that is developing innovative solutions for naval and commercial applications. We seek to assure fleet force protection in response to small vessel terrorist attacks against our Navy and coalition ships. There is a clear and present danger of these tactics being used against the U.S. Navy throughout the world and in our home ports. These same innovative technologies, applied to commercial needs, will provide a significant decrease in transit time and increase in energy efficiency, resulting in the savings of thousands of gallons of fuel daily. Our Navy is in a revolutionary period of change. Historic military tactics combined with modern materials and technology present a formidable fleet protection challenge for our Navy today. One of the greatest threats to our Navy is low tech vessel attacks with conventional explosives, as seen on October 12, 2000, when the USS Cole was attacked, killing 17 sailors and wounding 39 others and in the continued success of pirates. As a maritime systems think tank, Juliet Marine Systems provides offensive, defensive and ISR solutions that are developed in a skunk works operation able to rapidly invent and construct needed technologies and systems for the Navy and armed forces. We have already developed a surface variant of a super cavitating craft and are planning to apply our unique technology in a UUV prototype. While the GHOST is a surface vessel, the hydrodynamics of the twin submerged buoyant tubular foils are also a test bed for Juliet Marine's next planned prototype, a long duration UUV. The GHOST is a revolutionary proprietary technology vessel platform that will assure force protection through stealth fighter/attack capabilities along with integrated situation awareness.

• published: 27 Aug 2014
• views: 2129333