“If the U.S. doesn’t want this, fine. But why not let us sell to friendly nations? We’ve had so much interest from countries like Japan, Korea, Qatar.”
My guess is that he's blowing smoke on both the capabilities of the ship and the interest from other countries.
Quite likely. Describing it as an "attack helicopter of the sea" sounds a lot like a hand-wavey excuse for not really having a clear idea what naval role the technology would actually fill.
Just demilitarize the thing and sell as a billionaire's toy for the confidential getaway from the swimming Versailles of a superyacht you already have. "The dinghy? Yeah, it was so advanced the Navy did not know what to do with it so I got it on the cheap", I imagine it would make a great conversation piece.
Edit: I might be basing my mental model of billionaires too much on the writings of Neil Stephenson though..
> Quite likely. Describing it as an "attack helicopter of the sea" sounds a lot like a hand-wavey excuse for not really having a clear idea what naval role the technology would actually fill.
That sounds about right.
I would also add that it may indicate that it has a very limited payload capability and very limited speed for its size. The Juliet Marine Systems' marketing brochure mention their Ghost achieves speeds above 30 knots, which in practice indicate that its top speed is 30 knots. That's the speed of a Zumwalt-class destroyer.
Meanwhile, the US Navy's littoral class ships have a top speed that goes above 50 knots, and the US navy has an assortment of small fast-attack crafts whose speed reaches 80 knots.
In fact, fast attack boats designed decades ago typically reach speeds above 40, and nowadays there are several military transport ships that reach higher speeds.
Aircraft generally beat boats in an offensive role. The advantage boats have is the amount of stuff they can take with them. This loses out on the benefits of boats without any real clear benefit over aircraft.
My guess is that he's blowing smoke on both the capabilities of the ship and the interest from other countries.