The futuristic $15 million prototype aptly named Ghost was built specifically to run stealthily invisible — until it unleashes a devastating blast with its mounted machine gun and rocket launcher.
The 38-foot vessel was built entirely on spec by New Hampshire-based Juliet Marine Systems for applications that include luxury speedboat, Navy SEAL assault ship and even modern-day pirate hunter.
Built from aluminum and stainless steel, the vessel is nonmagnetic and difficult to target using sonar.
“We came up with the name Ghost because the boat is intended to have no radar signature at all,” CEO Gregory Sancoff told Bloomberg Business.
“With Ghost, you can get into denied-access ocean areas and loiter for 30 days with the fuel on board. You can listen to cellphone conversations, you can monitor what’s going on, you can launch operations and leave, and no one knows you’re there.”
Sancoff told CNN that he has had inquiries about building a high-speed ferry version of Ghost to run between Florida and Cuba.
Take a look at how this boat works.
Narrow struts attached to 62-foot tubes that contain gas turbine engines give the boat its running surface. Four propellers at the front of the tubes are powered by twin 2,000-hp engines. They pull the craft and, with the help of air funneling down through the struts, create a gas bubble around each tube — an effect known as supercavitation, which significantly reduces drag.
“It’s such a smooth ride, you can sit there and drink your coffee going through six-foot swells,” Sancoff told Bloomberg.
