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US Marines to get high-speed, radar-evading electric seagliders for rescue ops

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This will not primarily be for rescue ops. This will be for supporting Marine standin operations on and within the first island chain. The marines have been trying to figure out how they can handle sustainment and logistics in that environment.

You can read some wonkish article about this (back in 2022) https://warontherocks.com/2022/09/sustainment-of-the-stand-i... . You'll note that the article does suggest revisiting seaplanes as a distribution option.

With a few hundred miles range, these craft would be suitable as one way island to island hoppers, or 2 way over the horizon ship to shore transports. For a sense of scale, its ~140 miles from Luzon to Scarborough Shoal (one of the contested islands in the South China Sea).

The "Viceroy" craft that Regent has mocked up on their website claims 180 mile range, 3500lb of cargo / 2 crew + 12 passengers.

EDIT: And to be clear, the article title says "to get", but the article makes clear, this is basically a testing and development contract. There's no certainty that the Marines will get this capability in any meaningful way. Probably better to replace with "to test". This is particularly important because the commercial version of this craft is also still in development and testing.

3 days agoby icegreentea2

This is like the old Soviet Ekranoplans [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan

3 days agoby JR1427

From the wiki I take it they have yet to build and fly a full-sized prototype

"A 1/4 scale model was successfully demonstrated in 2022 in Narragansett Bay"[1]

Also I assume radar-proof is just because it's a ground effect vehicle that will never fly high enough to show up on radar it certainly doesn't look all angular like a stealth bomber. In which case my bicycle is also radar-proof?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REGENT_Viceroy

3 days agoby acc_297

I wonder why the title clarifies "for rescue ops".

Is there anything inherent to this technology that prevents it from being used for anything else? The article body insists on "demonstrations relevant to specific defense operations" which sounds quite broad and not limited to rescue ops in any way.

3 days agoby Rygian

It's a YC W21 company!

https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/regent

3 days agoby nsiemsen

So they are just at Phase 2 of developing prototypes with the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory? Ok, that explains why I've not heard/seen any deployment plans for these things within the next 5 years out here....which probably means if we do get them, we'll get them too late to influence the war with China over Taiwan.

Other comments are correct that the Corps isn't even close to solving the contested sustainment/logistics problems here in the First Island Chain, or in the South China Sea.

These seagliders are a nifty solution to the signature management issues, but their payload is tiny. We need the ability to move pallets of munitions or other cargo.

2 days agoby CapricornNoble

Low altitude is no longer a viable strategy for evading radar. Especially with the advent of datalink enabled satellite and other forms of downward looking radar. The propellers show up on pulse doppler like a flashing emergency light. Especially over the ocean with so little ground clutter.

2 days agoby foxyv

is this a ground effect machine?

5 days agoby bluesounddirect

Are they drone evading though? Because if not, then this is a waste of time and taxpayer money. Literally any idiot can 3D print a drone capable of defeating tens of millions of dollars in military hardware from 15-20 miles away. We're not in Kansas anymore.

3 days agoby ein0p

Ground effect vehicles could be the thing that's needed to make drone based delivery a reasonable thing to do, especially around lakes. It's one of life's perennial disappointments that such things only get done in military terms and under the ludicrous notion they are rescue vessels.

3 days agoby fidotron

Ében-Émael on Sea!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_%C3%89ben-%C3%8...

2 days agoby natmaka