Posted on 09/06/2009 8:54:19 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
The XSR military interceptor is the fastest boat ever built and is set to take to the water in the battle against pirates and drug smugglers.
The British-designed vessel travels at almost 100mph, carries a retractable heavy machine gun and would not look out of place in a 007 film.
With a maximum speed of 85 knots (97mph) and carrying a .50 calibre machine gun hidden under the deck, the boat will be able to overhaul “go-fast” drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and pirate ships off the coast of Somalia.
The vessel is part of a raft of new equipment being shown for the first time at the Defence and Security Exhibition in London.
Hailed as the world’s “most advanced performance and pursuit” vessel the XSR will allow navies to deploy special forces on enemy shores, anti-piracy and smuggling patrols, protecting oil platforms and to intercept unidentified vessels in potential terror attacks.
When the XSR comes within range of an enemy ship the machine gun emerges from the forward hull and is trained on the target using a remote controlled system from the cockpit.
In an era where potential adversaries such as Iran use the “swarm” tactic of multiple fast boats attacking a single big target, the XSR can operate as a counter to the threat.
During the Cornwall incident in 2007 the 14 Royal Navy personnel were taken prisoner by the Iranians partly because their small boats were outgunned and slower than their Iranian captors.
The Royal Navy and other international fleets will be able to examine the boat, co- designed by the part-Government owned company QinetiQ, at the Excel centre in London Docklands.
The XSR, which has done 30,000 nautical miles of testing, can be launched and recovered from a warship and the basic
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
“Q” strikes again!
Oh man! This XSR military interceptor is so going on my Christmas list...
A Naval surface fighter craft. Pretty cool.
How many skiers can it pull?
Anyone have a doubt what will happen when this boat going 87 knots meets a log floating just beneath the surface?
I can see some large vessels carrying those for protection in brown water
disintegrate?
XSR Interceptor 19 and 14
Top speed: 65 knots or 85 knots
Crew: Seven/four
Passengers -14 seated
Carries: 6,000l fuel, 300l fresh water, 1095kg weapons and ammunition, 500kg stores
Range: 1000 nautical miles
Endurance: 48 hours
Very impressive.
Knowing the way Brits do things, they’ll get one of these things stolen while at tea or toughing it out as idiots; handing over the tech and spec’s to the enemies of the world. Oh, James could you recover our toy. Or may be we will see a Fountain with optional 20mm cannon mounts…as a standard accessory.
Building many of these is more important than one bomb or missile that we will not ever use.
It ain’t worth nuthin’ lessin’ it has a trolling motor and cup holders...
Worthless, no casting platform, baitbox or livewell.
Needs hydrofoils to be a Bond boat.
And a frickin’ laser beam.
Eighty-five knots in an ocean-going vessel?!!
This is clearly an idea whose time has come. Are you kidding me? I could go from slips in either Boston or Newport to Carolina's outer banks in a day. Sweet. If it's under $250K, its a steal. I don't even need the machine gun... :-)
Minus the ordinance, in civilian trim, it could probably be re-tuned for improved weight/ballast/draught-to-power/buoyancy/hydrodynamics ratios, and squeek out another 10-15 knots. You could pull the kids on a tire tube...
;-/
Nee more detail on the specs - what size trailer hitch do I need?
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