If America just legalised drugs they could save an awful lot of money, and the bat boat could be used to save drowning people in Texas. I must be crazy to even think this.

Gary_7vn

@evilfrog: please see comments from: @robbywil:

hindsight2020

I bet they have bat shark repellent onboard..

Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude

"UFO-Unidentified FLOATING Object" works for me

evilfrog

"oh no, they're headed for land! we'll never catch them now"
"incorrect - there's a canal"

gooo night boat!

lpranal

Love the "probe" comment. Thanks for the laugh Giz

GIZisGOD

@Kaspir: Right, which was based on a completely different stealth design. That ship has actually been retired outright. I think the Navy is looking for someone to take the entire unit, and its floating hangar, as a museum piece.

This boat is all carbon fiber, and can do an impressive array of things, including launching and controlling of UAV's while relaying realtime video to troops on the ground, and even haul insertion boats. It's capable of being winched onto cargo ships for longer travels as well.

@Earthslide: An upgrade? Dude, this thing is basically state of the art in marine vehicles.

What you're not getting is that the damn thing is almost 90' long, 40 feet wide, and 18' high. It drafts 2.5 feet of water at speed, and weights 45 tons unloaded. Compared to a fast drug-runner boat, it's impressive.

Xavoc

I want one!

altus

+ Watch video

Uh, this thing looks like it hauls. Up to 50 knots, 2.5' draft... No wonder they couldn't lose the damn thing. It also had more interior storage space than many houses.

Xavoc

@Kaiser-Machead on the Edge: that's the one, thanks Kaiser!

Kaspir

@Kaspir: Tomorrow Never Dies

Kaiser-Machead on the Edge

reminds me of that 'stealth boat' in one of the bond movies...the one with Pierce Brosnan...

Kaspir

@Joetimek: "more appropriate name would be the U.S.S. You're Fucked"

Fucked? Damn thing couldn't catch them til they ran out of gas plus it took over 2 hours ... This thing needs upgrading.

Earthslide

@Joetimek:
you're fucked with high heels! lol

hindsight2020

@Joetimek: Maybe it's just to keep people distracted.

"Wha? A wooman's shoe ees comeeng to keel us? What the..

Ay mierde! STILETTOOOOO!!"

But I agree, the U.S.S YR-FKT sounds great.

Kaiser-Machead on the Edge

the drug money seized goes to the budget cuts to fund more boats and create more jobs. now that's what I call recycling!

hindsight2020

Its for the next batman movie you idiots...

crazy0000

$6 million and all they could come up with is Stiletto? I think a more appropriate name would be the U.S.S. You're Fucked.

Joetimek

So it just swallows them up or what?
Whats special about it? Anyone know?

Razta

@Kaiser-Machead on the Edge: There's always a fjord, or an inlet, or an estuary.

badhatharry

An Unidentified Floating Object... Duh!!

robbywil

That's a pretty intense boat. Can I buy a luxury version of it?

jlindenbaum

"they're", not "their" :)

skechada

"Look Michael, a fjord!"

Kaiser-Machead on the Edge

That thing looks so f'ing awesome! I want one! ....nah, make it two ;)

Workout

That thing is beast!

Elijah

M-hull? that thing's a quint-hull!

kanon

Maybe the drug runners will start using those things as well.

Loonie

@Mr.SithNinja: Well, not everyone is really "financially capable" of leaving, but pretty much there are/were ways to prevent things like Katrina from happening that even the local government fscked up there.

During the last evac, NO took advantage of those things. Such as the Amtrak train that can haul a few thousand people in a hurry. I think NO even blamed Bush for not using their own school bus fleet.

Thankfully this time they did the right thing and said, "GTFO"

Xavoc

@Xavoc: Agreed. I believe it is called "natural selection". Nature's way of weeding out the ones who are too stupid to realise that when you are given warnings by the State or Local authorities that plainly say " If you stay you face certain death".

Mr.SithNinja

Are the support craft Sequin- and Feather Boa- class ships?

AdmNaismith

@Gary_7vn: Uh, the oceans were too bad for very large ships, let alone this thing. As for drowning people in Texas, either you leave when they tell you it's dangerous to leave, or you take your life into your own hands.

I feel bad that they died, but not that the government didn't do enough to help people this time. Katrina was another matter altogether.

Xavoc

I'd actually been wondering what happened w/ this ship when they shut down the agency responsible for its creation. I love that the damn thing can launch SEAL ribs out the back of it, and pick them back up the same damn way. Then haul ass out of ugly water.

Xavoc

i thought the Russians were selling Nuclear subs to the Drug Cartels for drug transport without the warheads of course!

hindsight2020

Shit! Coast Guard boats are on our asses! Quick swallow all 100 kilos of cocaine! Wow where did that coast guard... SHIT and alien!!!

vinnyr

Right now basically since there's only one of them, you just need to know which coast it is on, and aim for the other one...

Xavoc

@Loonie: Only 6 million to buy, will hold 20 tons of blow. Sounds like a win for them.

Xavoc

I'd rather have a SunSeeker.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Appearance In Popular Culture
Sunseeker boats featured in the James Bond films: Die Another Day and The World Is Not Enough. The most recent film, Casino Royale, shows the Predator 108.

chrism123

So if this thing is so fancy and fast, why wasn't it able to catch up to that little boat in two hours of chasing?

Brdf

Saw it on Discovery channel, amazing boat!

sarwatmj

It wasn't a ufo, it was Venus.

BiZarRroBALlmeR

damn it too late again.

BiZarRroBALlmeR

unidentified floating object.

BiZarRroBALlmeR

@hindsight2020: i'm sure the warheads were a factory option.

O3DigitalBath

Cry for the manatees.

GiltProto

People! A stiletto was a weapon long before it was shoe. Shoes don't kill people...well, not normally.

Cyrano76

Dude....drug runners are so f'ing stupid!

If the money is that good in the drug b'ness, why can't the drug bosses hire someone intelligent enough to get the product to where it needs to go? No product delivery = no profit...morons!

Thinking about this did bring a solution to mind for government operatives who may be using boats to deliver guns incognito to people inside unfriendly territory.

Sure, the drug runners could use it too, but I don't like doing b'ness with someone too stupid to what is essentially a FedEx employee that can actually deliver a package.

How hard could it possibly be to deliver a package - no matter what's in it - with a whole damned ocean to get lost in?

Getting caught by the Coast Guard has to be like getting busted by Barney f'ing Fife...or the A-Team!

A drunken, skiing squirrel could elude the Coast Guard. Come on people!!! It's delivering a package! This IS NOT rocket science!

F'ing idiots! I hope they fed 'em to the sharks. People that stupid definitely do not need to be allowed to breed.

squishyalt

@Cyrano76: I knew that, but women's shoe jokes are better than weapon jokes.

Kaiser-Machead on the Edge

actually drug runners usually do get the drugs where they need to go. Unforunately they will eventually find a way to beat this boat (theres only one, so thats a problem right there...)

Knowing nothing about boats, since this thing seems to be very light with no draft, is it susceptible to flipping like those race boats? how manuverable is it?

redkamel

there has been a prototype of one of these at the Navy Base in Coronado, where I live (across bridge from san diego) and let me tell you...it hauls and it is big and wide. You have no idea how imposing it is when you see it coming behind you when you are out boating...

laxman15

@squishyalt: I agree.

Have any of you ever tried to find someone on open water sans navigation aids? This Thursday I was in the chesepeake bay on my waverunner looking for my buddy's crab boat. It's by no means little, and I still spent about a half hour trying to figure out which one his was.

My thoughts are that if these guys are catching drug runners, they've either gotten tips about where/when, or the drug runners are doing something that's outwardly illegal (running without lights), no registration, etc.

There's no damn speed limit. I bomb around at 70+ all the time and I have yet to get stopped.

RamV10

You don't have to be 'high' to be mistaken... nor to think the worst.

Which reminds me, one of my aunts and a cousin thought they saw a UFO once, back in the '70s. Once the stealth bomber came out the realized what they saw back then.

unspellable

Recall that anyone who is actually smuggling drugs is generally trying to get here from another country. That's generally a long distance, usually from the Bahamas or other Caribbean island. Boats that can go really fast generally don't have massive range, it can be done, but you will run out of gas quickly. With big boats we're talking gallons/mile, not miles per gallon.

As someone who has navigated the entire east coast by boat, it's difficult to go really far without encountering local police, coast guard or military at some point. Especially around New York City or Norfolk Virginia for example. While it could be done, you would need a very good local identity or they will climb up your ass I'm sure. Only the coast guard are interested in boarding and searching generally, and they're usually just checking out the girls onboard, assuming you're registered and you've got enough life preservers and your fire extinguishers are full. The military, like around Norfolk, will just shoot you out of the water if you get too close for long and don't respond to the radio. No one would go far these days without full navigation equipment, radar, gps, etc.

I can't imagine ever trying to smuggle drugs by boat. Boats are just too unreliable. It's way too likely that might need the Coast Guard's help, and they are more than happy to help out drug smugglers.

chrism123

So when can we expect to see these bad boys rolling on da hoods in the crime ridden shores of Lake Michigan? ;)

Pezmanb

@squishyalt: "No product delivery = no profit...morons!"

Where do you think all the drugs come from? Whether by air, land or sea, we intercept an incredibly tiny percentage of them.

GadgetPlay

They just need to add a ginormous vacuum to the front à la giant manta-ray!

Valicore

@GadgetPlay: True. Yet we continue to WASTE taxpayer dollars fighting this ridiculous "war on drugs".

It's like prohibition all over again, except this time the government isn't wise enough to stop.

While I know that drug users usually are (or will be) criminals, let's concentrate on that instead of stopping the flow of illegal drugs. Hell, we can't even stop the flow of illegal aliens - WHOLE PEOPLE - so just how do we expect to stop the illegal flow of a powder?

We already have laws to deal with theft, physical violence and all of the other nasty stuff that people on drugs (and off) do. So, let's drop this silly "war on drugs" and kick some ass if people hurt other people or resort to other criminal activity to buy drugs (or for any other reason - I don't care why you stabbed me, YOU STABBED ME! OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!).

"War on drugs" my ass. When is the last time you saw a joint holding up a liquor store or beating it's wife?

You want a REAL useless war? Try a "war on stupidity". The White House Operation alone would freeze government for the next thousand years.

squishyalt

@squishyalt: I'm sorry, but i don't see it as a waste.. that's like saying its a waste to pay police officers. the fact is, their illegal, and illegal for a reason. They can, and quite often do, kill people. its people like you that make me wish giz had an ignore user button :(

detraya

@hindsight2020: lol whose buying the drugs so they can get the money??? Tell me that...

The-Joker

@detraya: lol like in dat scarface movie when da guy used a chainsaw to kill someone so they wont get the cocaine

The-Joker

Well they (coast guard/navy) got lucky this time, but as the drug runners get used to seeing this thing they won't care much longer and it'll just be one big target to do target practice on..

Delvar15

@detraya: Cars "can and often do kill people". Should we make those illegal?

How about alcohol? Care to talk about how many lives that takes and/or ruins? Yet, alcohol is legal....wonder why.....

What we are talking about here is the right to do with your body whatever you like - as long as you are old enough, and possessing enough mental capacity to be considered responsible for your actions.

I'll be honest with you...I don't give a rats ass what you do to yourself, or with another mentally capable adult, - as long as you (both) are old enough and of sound mind. Do drugs, chop off a leg, have sex with prostitutes, have sex with HIV-infected men...I don't care - and neither should anyone else.

The problem that I have is when people do stupid things that they must reasonably know will cause themselves (or those around them) harm, and then expect me to pay to fix things...OR...when people willfully harm or steal from others for their own selfish gain or pleasure.

If you hurt somebody (and it is not in self defense or the defense of another) or if you take something that is not yours without express permission of the owner (whether forcefully or by deceptive practices) I have absolutely no use for you at all. Given the chance, I would trebuchet your ass to a prison island to live out your days with people just like you.

Now, I am speaking generally when I say "you". I am not aware that you (detraya) fit into any of these categories of people for which I have no use.

That being said, i would not cry if you ignored my posts. After all, I am for your rights to do whatever you wish (that does no harm to another).

I wish that you felt that way too.

And....one day....you will.

squishyalt

@detraya: Just an FYI....

"The leading causes of death in 2000 were tobacco (435 000 deaths; 18.1% of total US deaths), poor diet and physical inactivity (400 000 deaths; 16.6%), and alcohol consumption (85 000 deaths; 3.5%). Other actual causes of death were microbial agents (75 000), toxic agents (55 000), motor vehicle crashes (43 000), incidents involving firearms (29 000), sexual behaviors (20 000), and illicit use of drugs (17 000)."

Maybe we should make eating cookies and not exercising illegal, huh? According to your thinking, that would have saved 400,000 people in 2000. While the "war on drugs" would have only saved 17,000.

So, where do you think we'd be better off fighting stupidty? The 400,000 or the 17,000?

The "war on drugs" is simply an attempt to legislate morality. The people that support it should get the beam out of their own eyes first.

squishyalt

@squishyalt: 17000 deaths doesn't even come close to the number of people that are a burden to society. Personally I agree in that we should focus elsewhere, but I don't think I would justify it by the number of deaths as dying from drugs isn't the problem, it's the people living addicted that are the problem.

UnderLoK

I don't think it can turn fast enough, which is why it took 2 hours.

Chewbenator

It needs to have Stealth Submarine vacume vents so that it can suck water through and be submersible, and have nanotechnology materials with oxygen rebreather technologies, and it would be awesome if it had the Fused Plasma Pulse/ Electromagnetic systems so that it can actually hover aka electromagnetic levitation and propullsion systems, so that it can fly at subsonic speeds like that new 15 machs nanotechnology aircraft system etc... And have laser weapons, and other types of rockets and missiles!

StealthNinja