Posted on 07/29/2014 8:17:16 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
ARLINGTON, Va. — A small company is offering to the Navy a small, high-speed craft that it says can take on some of the missions of the littoral combat ship (LCS) in regional operations.
The Ghost, a small waterplane-area twin-hull (SWATH) craft designed by Juliet Marine Systems Inc. of Portsmouth, N.H., has been tested in prototype form at sea and has been demonstrated to potential customers, including the U.S. Navy, said Greg Sancoff, chief executive officer of Juliet Marine. The Ghost is designed to perform anti-surface (ASUW) and antisubmarine warfare (ASW) and mine countermeasures (MCM), the three intended roles of the LCS.
Juliet Marine has developed various mission suites for the different roles. An ASUW version could be equipped with an electro-optical (EO/IR) sensor, a radar, an M197 20mm rotary cannon and 32 launch tubes for small missiles such as Nemesis, Griffin or the Advanced Precision-Kill Weapon System. The missile exhaust would be expelled downward between the struts of the SWATH hulls, concealing and dissipating the thermal signature of the launch.
An ASW version could be equipped with an EO/IR sensor, radar, sonobuoy launch tubes, a dipping sonar, and aft-firing torpedo tubes for torpedoes. An MCM version could be equipped with a towing boom lowering and raising towed mine-hunting sonars such as a Kline 5000 or the Raytheon AQS-20.
Development of the Ghost began in 2008 and the prototype was completed in early 2010.
The craft’s hulls are based on the supercavitation features of the rocket-propelled anti-ship torpedoes developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The hulls are controlled by 22 computer-controlled underwater control surfaces. At rest, the Ghost sits in the water on its centerline module. At eight knots, the buoyant hulls, made of high-grade marine aluminum, lift the craft and achieve full stability. The prototype is powered by T53-703 turboshaft engines. Sancoff said the company is moving toward using the General Electric T700 turboshaft engine.
The Ghost also is scalable. A version designed to insert special operations forces would be three feet longer to accommodate a team of special operations personnel. A larger version could perform the role of a corvette-size vessel.
The Ghost as currently designed can be partially disassembled for transport on board a C-17 aircraft and reassembled at the delivery point.
Sancoff said the prototype is being tested weekly, and has achieved speeds in excess of 30 knots and will be tested to the 50-knot range.
Sancoff said the Ghost could be a good fit for the world patrol boat market, which he said will be worth $49 million over the next 10 years. He sees as potential customers Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and Qatar.
Juliet Marine has been in high-level discussions with a foreign nation interested in 25 Ghosts for potential sale $300 million.
Head-on, looks like a giant water beetle...
What? No lasers?........................
I’m still waiting for the W.H.A.L.E. like the one in the GI Joe cartoon. It looked like it had enough ordnance.
Good catch
Yes Red, it is a pity that old Doc Hickman didn't live to see his ideas finally adopted by the USN.
In the extremely unlikely event that you and I are called to storm some hostile foreign shore in that cute little Kevlar and Carbon Fibre Ski-Doo, is there any chance we could have some TOT from something like maybe the New Jersey before we surf in?
In a previous life I learned that our adversaries may not have seen enough American war movies and often have the unprecedented gall to actually fire upon us! Cheeky bastards, those Worthy Oriental Gentlemen. I say soften'em up a bit before we go in. Please?
Good video here:
http://www.julietmarine.com/news.htm
Different vessel, but a good illustration of the benefits of SWATH.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg6xyAKJOtE&index=1&list=PL6YOBh6yZDx2Z6UhBF3glgl-aHQQ6w0h2
Question:Has the US Navy ever developed, or sought to develop a counter measure to the Kirov Class Battle Cruiser?
You can read about it at:
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/kirov-class-battle-cruiser-the-worlds-largest-surface-1570998551/1571897333/+matthardigree
Exactly what I was thinking. Who came first?
It is tiny, but, if it works, it might be a good replacement for the LCS - which doesn’t work at all.
Put half a dozen of these based off a Quarters/Maintenance/Fueling barge or two off the Horn of Africa.
Arm with Phalanx.
Bye bye, Pirates
Yes. It is called an airstrike. Or a SSN.
Some nuclear tipped cruise missiles would be very effective in softening things up a bit..................
The four Iowa class battleships were recommissioned in the 1980s partly as a counter to the Kirovs.
The answer to the Kirov is the CVN.
Oh, yeah...you’re one of those guys that think air planes will one day sink ships! We all know that can’t happen!
(snicker)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.