Seafighter.

This is coolbert:

First there was X-Craft, now there is "Seafighter".

Good program this evening on the cable "Military Channel"

The U.S. Navy has now deployed the latest of a series of newly designed and radically different naval craft.

Was part of the once experimental X-Craft project. NOW has come to fruition with the "Seafighter".

MOST impressive! Very much so!

This is the weapon the U.S. Navy needs badly. For fighting in littoral waters and providing fleet and homeland security protection.

It does appear the U.S. Navy has very carefully thought things through with the "Seafighter" and come up with a winner! A big time winner! A markedly innovative design using technology with common sense.

First of all, the "Seafighter" is INEXPENSIVE compared with other naval vessels. You can build and deploy fifteen of these craft for the cost of one modern naval destroyer! AND are quickly built too. The first deployed vessel was up and going only 20 months from start to finish. That too is unheard of!

Has the appearance from the outside of a box atop a catamaran hull. Dual hull of an almost science-fiction-like design. The inside of the ship looks like a big warehouse. NOT something the U.S. Navy would have previously thought of as looking "sexy"!

"Its hull is of a SWATH design, providing exceptional stability, even in high seas. The ship can operate in both blue and littoral waters"



"travel at least 50 knots in calm seas and more than 40 knots in sea state four."

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* Two water-jet engines for combat operations. High speed and incredible maneuverability is possible utilizing this type of propulsion.

* Dual diesel engines for long-range, slow speed, loiter-like cruising!

Seems to be a vessel with the reconnaissance, surveillance, anti-submarine, anti-mine, special operations/commando type of mission!

Requires a very small crew of highly-trained personnel the U.S. Navy favors.

"The ship will have a crew of 26 comprised of four Navy officers and 12 enlisted Sailors working alongside a Coast Guard officer and nine Coast Guard enlisted personnel"

Can accommodate:

* Helicopters of the normal variety [H-60] .

* Unmanned vehicles, both aerial [UAV] and underwater [UUV].

* Zodiac-type rigid hull rubber boats.

Does not possess a gun or an integral missile firing capability? If available, NOT shown on TV!

Can be mission task tailored! That warehouse like inner-part of the ship can hold up to twelve shipping container sized modules that carry the workings for various missions. Modules that ARE shipping containers and contain war-making material. One container for the zodiac-type boats, another for the unmanned underwater vehicles [UUV], yet another for the special operations type of mission, etc.

[these DO appear to be shipping containers EXACTLY as you would find on an ordinary civilian shipping container vessel.]

Even the crew berthing is found in shipping containers! Specially modified sleeping quarters, cramped but not offended!

For each distinct type of mission, a discrete and pertinent set of modules that are mission tailored can be loaded on the ship prior to sailing. Perhaps even helicoptered to the ship when at sea? Each module equipped with gear that is off-the-shelf. The "Seafighters" are intended to be built and deployed NOW!

"[able to]meet a variety of mission requirements, including mine warfare, anti-submarine operations, amphibious assault support, surface warfare, transport and logistical missions, cruise missile launch, and special forces interdiction operations."

In conclusion:

"very high speed, high payload capability vessel which can cross oceans quickly, and operate in shallow coastal waters on missions which include mine counter measures and antisubmarine warfare."

Best to the "Seafighter" and bon voyage!! With this class of vessel, the U.S. Navy has hit the nail right on the head!! Again, I must say I am impressed with what I see!

coolbert.