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.
Danger Room tried to contact Juliet Marine Systems for further comment. But after multiple calls and a submission of written questions (ostensibly lost in a spam folder), the company said it couldn’t respond by press time.
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. Promotional artwork also depicts a special operations Ghost craft blasting away at unseen enemies with a Gatling-style gun.
Juliet Marine Systems says Ghost’s payload capacity helps it store more fuel for lengthier missions. They claim it uses supercavitation technology — creating an air pocket to reduce friction on its catamaran hull — and jet engines to reach its high speeds.
This isn’t the first attempt at a high-speed naval batmobile designed to take on small boats. Launched by the U.S. Navy in 2006, the M80 Stiletto had a double-M-shaped hull that made it look like something straight out of Wayne Enterprises’ defense contracting division. It didn’t fare too well. A prototype of the ship saw some action chasing drug boats off the coast of Florida, but the craft ran into trouble navigating rough waters and communicating with the military’s classified network.
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.”
Whether the private sector has the appetite for an advanced new craft now that piracy is starting to wane slightly remains to be seen. But if Ghost doesn’t attract enough interest from the U.S. Navy or the private security market, it’d at least fit well as a prop on the set of the upcoming Batman sequel.
Photo: Courtesy Juliet Marine Systems, Inc.
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