Every shipbuilder in the Navy these days talks about how his hulking destroyer or Cold War sub is now going to sneak SEALs onto shore. A couple of weeks back, Military.com overlord Chris Michel was down in San Diego, and saw a pretty cool new prototype ship that’s been designed from scratch to handle the mission.
The 89-foot, 60-ton Stiletto will be one of the quickest ships in the fleet, using four Caterpillar C32 engines to cruise at 50 knots or more. It’ll also be one of the sneakiest, according to New Scientist.
Stiletto’s hull has a double-M shape that channels the wake under the craft. There it mixes with oncoming air to produce froth that lifts the ship part-way out of the water, reducing drag and increasing stability, says Greg Glaros, the programme’s leader at the defence department’s Office of Force Transformation.
While a crew of three runs the Stiletto, a dozen SEALs can slip off the back of the ship, in an 11-meter rigid inflatable boat — or they can send a set of flying drones out on spy missions from the upper deck. The ship can stay on station for eight hours while the robots or the special forces are out on their operations. And the Stiletto can keep an even keel while it waits; it’s cleared to operate in Sea State 5 — waves twelve feet high and 157 feet long.
If the Stiletto works out as planned, it’ll be good news for special forces. Because while every ship-maker says they’ve come up with the ideal commando-delivery system, several of the options haven’t worked out as planned.
Take the Advanced SEAL Delivery System. “The subs were originally expected to cost $80 million each; the first one alone has cost $446 million,” notes the Times-Dispatch. “The vessel was noisier than planned — bad news for a submarine. Designs were changed to muffle the sound, and now the mini-sub vibrates too much.” Which is defnitely not how commandos like to travel.
UPDATE 1:28 PM: Of course, Inside Defense had details on the ship months ago. A few:
* One reason for the unique shape is the ship was designed like an aircraft… OFTs first director, Arthur Cebrowski, who died last month, was very firm that were going to build an aircraft on the sea”… The hull has four distinct arches, which look like wings, that utilize air pressure to funnel water and glide along the surface.
* Through its maritime data bus, or on-board computer, the vessel will have the ability to plug and play with different sensors, linking with unmanned vehicles and other crafts of varying sizes, he said. With only one panel of windows for looking ahead, Stiletto will use deck cameras to give the crew a sense of what is happening around the ship.
* Production of the Stiletto prototype began in October 2004, costing $6 million in funds from OFT. Nearly the same amount has been earmarked by OFT and SOCOM combined for experimentation and testing.
UPDATE 2:37 pm: As C-Low notes in the comments, the latest issue of Defense Technology International has the Stiletto on the cover.
{ 61 comments… read them below or add one }
There has been a Stealth Ship sitting in San Diego harbor “forever.” The ship, last I was aware of, was sitting away and rusting. The stealth ship was featured in some movie (James Bond maybe?) don’t really remember which one. Being a San Diego Resident since 1990′s this ship has been around since at least 1995. It hasn’t gone anywhere since then, doubt it will go anywhere now. Though it has been in a few San Diego Bay Fleet Parades.
Not a Professional Opinion :)
Harry Toor
Student
So what’s going to happen to the MK-V SOB? This thing seems the next generation.
Would make more sense to make it a ship/submarine hybrid.
It can use speed to traverse closer to the shore while still out of line of sight, and then submerge and close in the remaining distance. Then it can release SEAL teams or SEAL team/mini subs.
This way RADAR and human observers dont have a chance of detecting the ship.
All people have to do to detect it is put a buoy with a orindary motion detecting video camera. Then alert their mainland either through underwater wire or by a radio signal. All the anti radar technology would then be negated by low tech.
If this thing could submerge then it would be better money spent.
The same with ANY naval ship. My opinion.
As a laymen on matters of the ocean, I have this reflection on the post by jtw regarding his comment, and then submerge and close in the remaining distance.
The idea presents some technical issues that make it impractical to combine too many features in a ship. Even if the technology were to resolve the problematic design constraints, a well trained watch on shore could see your ship under the water by observing distortions in the waves. At a depth necessary to avoid distorting the surf, not to mention unknown hazards, I speculate that currents will require a great deal of energy to manage hence acoustic images may scare birds or trigger other observable signatures.
Eat some mixed beans because
It has been suggested maltose might be a superior source of carbohydrate for endurance athletes. (p.290) [Gregory S. Kelly, N.D. Alt Med Rev 1997;2(4):282-295] Retrieved 1/26/06 from http://www.thorne.com/pdf/journal/2-4/sportsnutrition_part2.pdf
and then
Scuba.
Regarding the various comments above: The stealth ship that has been around SD for years is a different ship, looks like an F 117 stealth fighter. This M-80 Stiletto is a new design. The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is a 378′ combatant with contracts awarded to build one each of the two competing designs.
This is an AMAZING ship! It is great to see that there are more ships and other needs being met to keep our military safe. Thanks for all the hard work and dedication to get things like this done. Our military is so strong, but they need so much to get the job done more efficently and quickly, this is just one more thing that will improve their abilities. THANKS, AND GOD SPEED!
easy to kill.
Reminds me of Sea Shadow, vaguely, though it looks even closer to that Tomorrow Never Dies boat, which in turn was inspired by Sea Shadow.
Carbon Fiber, eh? Hmm. The shape means it won’t be much of a fighting boat, but if you were stealth, why would you want to reveal yourself?
Oh well. Skunk Works had stealth sub designs before the Navy dropped them (Sea Shadow is Lockheed’s bastard child, btw)
double M is descriptive enough
It will work better when blended
with a stepped V
Hell maybe in another five years
they’ll build a Whaler proto type
I designed fifteen years ago
i personally think what you guys are doing is great, i spent 10yrs in the navy, and from what i,ve seen you have a slick fighter on board, go for it , it looks like an f17 on water , i think finally someone has a consept that works congrads.
I hope this works out so SEALS can do the jobs they were trained for. Safely and silently.
Can do! AJ SW1 US Navy SEABEES
I hope there has been the forethought(sp?) to make this a 100% mechanical vehicle. The technology of tody can disable anything that runs or is dependent on DC/AC electric components.
If there are milions of $ to spend – use the mech. tech. available and think ahead. Diesel is crude, detectable and bulky. Where are your brains?
Sorry for the spelling!!
Looks like a Ghost! Specs and Data look Great! Congratulations and it will do the job!
Diesel in many different forms is the way to go. whether compression ignition or turbine. Properly sound isolated, the result will be loads of stealthy economical reliable power.
Hooyah!
The Stiletto is a step in the right direction.
The craft, in its developmental stages, can be reconfigured and improved upon. A more efficient propulsion system would enable the ship to reach greater speeds and have longer range capabilities.
Perhaps, a stealth, composite hull, would enable the vessel to withstand more diverse operating conditions greater than a sea state five, possibly up to the mid-seven range.
This has the potential to become a tremendous asset. I hope this is a success for the Navy.
Covert Surf
YEAH…SO…THIS IS A GREAT CONCEPT, BUT I CONSIDER IT HIGHLY UNLIKELY THAT THE TEAMS ARE EVER GONNA SEE IT PUT TO USE LIKE EVERYONE HOPES. I JUST CANT SEE THE NAVY COUGHING UP THAT MUCH CASH FOR OUR COMMUNITY SO WE CAN HAVE A BETTER “BOAT” THAT WE WILL NEVER EVEN HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO USE IN THE FIRST PLACE. NOT TRYING TO BE TO NEGATIVE, JUST REALISTIC.
C.A.G. PR1(SEAL)
Looks like a very expensive carbon fiber box. Love the concept of stealth but c’mon, this thing sticks out like a sore thumb, in a thumb wrestling match. The whole air\water mix to raise the boat out of the water is great, if there are never any waves to account for. Maybe you guys should devote more time to understanding our enemies and finding ways to make our stealth techology blend into their environment. I applaud the effort, but not the result.
This boat looks like a floating bathtub, since when is square, sleek and stealthy. The spec warfare community would be better with a boat that can take some punishment and is fast. In and out quickly, is the only way to go. Plus, you could build them for under a million !
An NSW water craft is always a great idea. The faster SEALs can deploy and extract the better.The issue here would be detectabilty, survivability and defense of the vessel. The 3 basic needs of a special warfare craft. If it is easily detected then you won’t make it to the target. If it can not be defended then it won’t make it away from the target. I like the idea of looking in to the enemys mind to see what is needed to defeat it. The moment we start thinking to simple or underestimating the enemy, that is the moment we put our boots on the ground in greater danger. It seems to me that someone out there is trying to give our SEALs a better bus ride to gain a dime without thinking about the bus. Nothing will ever overcome the simplistic beauty of a combat swim. It leaves one “Cold,WET and Tired” with a true sense that the mission was accomplished.
Although looks and sounds like a great insertion and extraction platform in a cold landing beach, how is a three man crew going to give gun fire support on a hot beach during extraction? Where are the gunmounts? What is being done for defense of the boatcrew and it’s cargo. How will it be transported to an Area of Operations? How long will it be able to stay at sea without refueling? Let’s talk about the REAL operational cataristics of a War Fighting Vessel.
ARE WE SAYING “SHINE IT MUST WORK IT SHOULD”?
BMC(SW) SWCC Retired
It looks like a FORD P.O.S. although nice camo job.not it uses cat engines-is it a earthmover or a ship, how about gas turbine-for speed.stealth? ive seen voltswagons with more stealth. puke!!!
former gmg/wt(ret)
Thier are some valid points in all the comments.
why coudn’t you make a lower slung PT type boat they were stable, fast, but not built hard. SEAL’s need quiet in but truly fast well armed on the way out. Missions seldom if ever extract in the same location as insertion. the boats pretty, but not sure myself if I would depend on it if my butt was on the line. FYI, I like the Idea of the Combat swim, That was why we always trained for wasn’t it?
This new special warfare boat will be a great tool for both navy seal and the sbu’s. As a vietnam veteran who served on the river boats and operated with navy seal’s, any equipment which would be stelth and provide fast extrations during a hot situation is greatly needed, not to mention, save lives.
I am happy to see such advancements in the SpecWar community. I pray it works for all the operators. I am confident if it is brought into service the decision makers will put it to good use and if I am late on my thoughts fair winds and following seas, Hooyah and Fire it up!
Boat Guys and SEAL Brothers
She’Bowman
Pt boats,,,, Whalers, why not sails or sweeps.
Keep looking ahead, special boats will take this and run. Good work.
Sue (seahag) exUSN
San Diego Ca.
This looks amazingly like a ship I saw in a “Bond…..James Bond, 007″ movie several years ago.
Front aspect looks radar stealthy but stern and sides do not.Would be innovative if it could take on water like a sub and lower itself into the sea while waiting for ops to do their thing, cruising at low speeds.Would need to self bail in emergencys, but even slow sailboats do this- lo-tech thing.
Yeah I think that this is a great idea. Whatever gets the Seals there the quietest and quickest is definately a good addition to SOCOM.
To stay on top of things in this very disturbed world, it is nice to see my tax dollars going for something very useful. To stay ahead of conflict, or to deal with it when diplomacy fails, our country needs such vehicles. Our boys deserve the very best that we can give them…this is a damn good start!
Design theme is similar to LCS currently under development. It’s all about the stealth – and the 50+ knots can’t hurt either. Only wish I had enough time left in the canoe club to take her for a spin. :) The M-hull should give a great ride without the maintenance headache of the LCACs. The new HSV’s equally impressive.
Dave K.
CDR, USN(RC)
Shouldn’t this be the new SWCC boat? Special Warfare Combatant Crewmen? Those are the guys who drive the MKV SOC and whose job it is to drive the surface boat assets to insert and extract the SEALs.
The MKV is already beyond its expected operational lifespan, and is due for a replacement. Still, don’t see this coming out right away. The platform is not air liftable, and that may hinder its inception into SPECWAR.
Please don’t confuse SWCC with SEALs. There is a reason that there are two types of Naval Special Warfare, the SWCC and the SEALs. They work together, but neither one likes to be called the other.
In this new, post 9/11 world, there is NO NEED to be stealthy against terrorists/insurgents, so this is a waste of money. (Terrorists have no coastal defense systems/radars.) If a mission requires stealth, insertion via sub or HALO airdrop are still viable options. All we need is a fast, agile boat, able to defend itself, to get SEALs in and out…semi-submersibles and sleak, radar-evading designs add no value and unnessarily increase costs…
I was on a diesel boat in the 60′s taking SEAL
teams up north in the Tonkin Gulf. We would
surface at night, get them on their raft, dive,
sit on the bottom, going to periscope depth
at prescribed times, then picking them up when
their mission was accomplished. What could be
more stealthy than that?
Loose lips sink ships
It’s all public knowlege, the Silent Service
has kept it’s oath about revealing any sensitive information that could be used against us, my point was just that we either destroyed or gave
away to 3rd world countries all of our old diesel boats and I think they could be very useful and economical and with a few relatively cheap upgrades, could help greatly in most insertion situations.
I HOPE EVERYTHING THAT YOU ABOUT TO DO ; ITS RIGTH IN LINE GAME ;THERE NO MISTAKE . WE CANT MAKE ANY MISTAKE . THERE SAYING SORRY ; IT NOT WORD ;CHOICE WE MAKE IT UP TO US TO CHOSE WHAT WE
ALL AGREE ;NOT EVEN ONE PERSON CANT SAY NO THEY DONT AGREE .PRAYERS LEADS ALL AMERCIAS IT WILL DO
MEANS BETTER WHAT WE ALL STAND FOR .WHAT WHY WE CALL OUR SELF AMERCIAS
IN GOD WE TRUST
The Navy has work on so much equipmant for the Seal that it makes my head spin. I worked with the seal for over 10 years. I took them all over the word Spec Boats. As a BM I have the chance to see almost every New toy the Seals play with isn’t it about time the navy pulled it’s head out of it’s Ass and quit spending our Tax dallors like it’s water. This new boat is crazy to build. The bad guys don’t care what new toys we have. Seals are trained to kill just do your job and quit spending tax payers money like Water. BMCS retired
I don’t think that a person who can’t even spell the word dollars, really has any idea about what his taxes are doing. While I agree that the Navy needs to spend smarter, I think that most of the time, money spent on SpecWar stuff is alot less than on many other projects. As a retired DCC I saw alot of stuff bought for fire fighting and damage control, that was purchased for the fleet, that wasn’t worth the time it took to fill out the paperwork. As a final note…I’m glad you weren’t doing my evals…
AS A 1ST.CLASS BOATS I THINK NEW TOYS ARE OK BUT IM AN OLD SALT AND CAN REMEMBER WHEN SHIPS WERE MADE OUT OF WOOD AND MEN OUT OF STEEL,THATS WHAT REALLY MATTERS
BM1 MILLER(USNR)
All this high tech, I just want a better tool box. Don’t care who designs it, don’t care how much it cost, I only care that it works. Everything has its ups and downs, without trying new things nothing would ever improve. Great try, and keep up the effort to keep our military #1. GO NAVY! Lets get some of this high tech to the SEABEES. CAN DO! BU1 PAPPA BEAR
The new ship sounds like a great feture for the special forces, Its looks and even sounds like a stealth operations boat. Looks like the seals will have a new toy to mess with.
I look at projects like this the same way I look at the concept cars at the recent North American Auto Car Show. There’s a lot of good intentions out there but you need a working platform to prove what will work and what needs work. Without these efforts there is little or no progress and stagnation will surely leed to defeat as others progress beyond us. That concept Camero and Challenger had ALL the folks drooling but without some Hi-tech gears under the hood that work they’ll never make it in the showroom.
I remember when the smart bomb was developed by the test lab at China Lake and wasn’t even classified. If we don’t spend a few dollars to experiment with new equipment we would have a hard time rowing fast enough to launch an aircraft off of a wooden sailing ship. Come on you people be realistic, even the Navy, especially the Navy has to stay ahead of the game.
I think if it works out this will be another great advance in spec warfare for the good guys.
Awesome baby, awesome.
Looks impressive, but it is still sterile at this point, By the time they install all the electronics and weapons systems and extra personnel needed to support the extra equipment, it will not have the current coargo/ perssonel capability they are expressing. It is a good and much needed concept but once again they worked backwards as with many of the ships and subs currently in service.
A small step-up from Grayback in recognizable appearance, and it would appear like there’s more of a feeling of being in a canopy once you leave, with no-where to call home.
Gents,
Having been the first SEAL ASDS Co-pilot, your comments are off the mark on the ASDS. There is a lot of rocket science tied up in the ASDS, and simple rhetorical cliche’s such as “it vibrates” are ridiculous. There are technologies in that boat that had to be invented (which also have other military and civilian applications), and the cost is certainly cheap, as compared to the MV-22, which is 26 years behind schedule, and more than 16 BILLION in the hole. ASDS safety record is spotless. Unfortunately for some brave young Marines, that can’t be said about MV-22. Please temper your remarks about ASDS accordingly. Cheers.
Well Guys, this thing is awsome it has 500 NM range. It can do and 40 knots fully loaded with three driving it and twelve passengers! Hell, it will deliver CRT/ SEAL teams in a pronto hurry! and be done in stealthy manner. I works for me!
I think this is exactly what the Teams need!
It is tied up behind the sport boat I work on at Knight and Carver ship yard in San Diego. Very interesting craft, completly composite hull with a wet slide in the rear to launch and retrieve the RHIB. Very spacious inside but is still very clearly a concept vehicle which is no where near finished out internally…
There’s always room for improvement in any and every design. Looks interesting; SOF certainly deserve the best and the most cutting edge technology. Money is a little thin now across the board, but is well spent in the area of Special Operations Forces. I have alot of experience on Submersible SOF support platforms and think we need to get our return investment on the DDS / ASDS programs as it applies to current and future Submarines though.
The very limiting 8 hours endurance will prove operationally unworkable unless this vessel can be launched from a “big deck” amphib with an accommodating well deck. The new LCS will prove more operationally acceptable and less of a burden to the fleet. Yet another great idea not well thought out?
- DD(X) Systems Engineer
Hello Guys,
I am fond that I am a member of this site, I am active duty on recruiting duty and now this clarifies why it is imperative and such a high demand for seals, the pressure for us to sign a qualified seal is so high priority at this time but I see the big picture and why there is a rush to find and sign them.
Thanx
The concept is solid, BUT, what will the ship do when old man ocean decides to go to sea state 6 or above? Such a sea state limitation would limit its use. Is this ship a calm waters ship only?
This is a remarkable concept – BUT – On Station Time is remarkably low. With the advertised size parameters it would appear that the three man crew should be able to remain on station for a week or more!
Seal missions typically need stealth at every step. If the new “surface vehicle” is delivered by a large deck amphib the mission is flawed from the start. An SDV or ADSV delivered by a sub would seem to have better covertness from start to finish and provide better protection for the Seals.
But how do you get a ship this big to the other side of the world in a hurry? With only a 500 mile range (250 miles each way) it would need refueling very close to any action. It seems more intelligent to find a design that can be airlifted.
It’s an awesome design,and has two excellent
features,it must be the correct eye sore correction for NSW Community.
Is this yet another Congressional Plus-up program just to feed the needy? This boat was not built for NSW nor is it a SOCOM program of record. It is only a technology demonstrator. However, the Navy and NSW had the Norwegian ship KNM SKJOLD (www.knmskjold.org) for a year from 2001-2002 but chose to learn nothing from it. Stealth design, Composite hull etc; Shame on us for not pursuing it….
Well, it sounds like a pretty good project. It still needs lots of finishing touches though, like :
a) Range is quite short.
b) Diesel is not THE fuel for such ops.
c) vibs to be dealt with.
d) Sharp edges to be taken care of.
Let draughtsmen think of “KNOX type destroyers” first before they start planning on something new. Take care
Do they need more carbon fiber? We have 1000s of yards available!
AHOY…THERE, I hear Zolatone makes for a great color variable. And catipillar genorators are powerful even when used for tugs. Batteries heavy but dependable. Finally double up on cable for those cat’s, …. you all feel me. SOUND stream amps with JBL SUBS?? got to have some tunes. Solong you privateer and good work always. 0629hrs Oct. 03,2007 West Coast