New coastal combat for the Marine Corps?: Weapon of the Week

Imagine a vehicle that combines the speed of an aircraft with the ease of a boat

It features three modes, float, foil, and fly. This winged passenger ferry is called the Paladin and could revolutionize coastal transportation

or serve as a new type of warship. And that's why it's our Weapon of the Week

It looks like something someone in the 1960s might have imagined about the way people would travel in the year 2000

25 years on, and this winged passenger ferry gliding over the surface of Narragansett Bay

could be the future of coastal transportation or a new option for military commanders operating in the littorals of the Pacific

Its maker, Regent Craft, is betting on both. Twelve propellers line the 65-foot wingspan of the Paladin

a sleek ship with an airplane's nose. Regent Kraft is testing a prototype of this vessel that it calls a sea glider

a hybrid between a boat and an aircraft that exploits a physics phenomenon called ground effect

the same cushion of air that pelicans and seagulls ride when skimming ocean waves

So right now, when seaplanes and flying boats try to take off from the water

they're slapping the surface of the water, they have very poor wave tolerance, and that's why they're constrained to inland waterways, lakes and rivers

of wave tolerance So tha allowing us to accelerate 50 to 60 miles an hour before we take off on the wing The commercial

version is designed to travel at 180 miles an hour making it possible to complete missions that

last an hour on battery power tapping seven teslas worth of batteries on board. The vessel operates

in waves up to five feet high for both takeoffs and landings making it ideal for routes connecting

coastal destinations as well as overwater routes linking islands. We also have extreme interest on

the defense side. We have 15 million in contracts with the U.S. Marine Corps today. We are rapidly

approaching larger programs, acquisition programs, and working not only in the U.S., but with our

allied Department of Defenses and Ministry of Defenses on incorporating sea gliders into their

defense and national security strategies. Regent is working with the Corps to repurpose the same

wing-in ground effect vessels for island hopping troops in the Pacific. Those vessels would likely

trade electronic battery power for jet fuel to cover longer journeys. And the Marines are not

the only ones interested. Regent has also built partnerships with U.S. Special Operations Command

and the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center. In less than five years, we have our full-scale prototype on the water

with safety systems sufficient to take on human crew. I mean, literally myself was on that sea glider earlier today

And we are imminent within a couple years now of our first deliveries

to both commercial and defense customers. 2027, sea gliders will be in operation in multiple places in the world