Carbon fiber Stiletto boat runs down baddies at 60 knots

If you had any urge whatsoever to try to your hand at drug trafficking over water while these "weird" economic times sort themselves out, uh, you may want to reevaluate your options. The ever-so-stealthy Stiletto has come to life after tracking down a remarkably quick drug-running boat near Florida; the bad guys were cruising at 42 knots, but that comic book-esque thing you're undoubtedly peering at above can reach speeds of up to 60 knots. The double-M-shaped hull enables it to navigate in extraordinarily shallow waters without trouble, and a plethora of sensors and radars give it all the power it needs to track down goons. Oddly enough, it's having a somewhat difficult time finding a government agency to truly call home, but if it continues to keep the coke out of our seas, we'd say it'll win over some hearts soon enough.

[Thanks, Laz]

[allislost @ Sep 21st 2008 4:00AM]

Exactly! Keep the coke out of our seas... and put it up my NOSE!

[Mo @ Sep 21st 2008 4:33AM]

^ all is lost indeed...

[gabe @ Sep 21st 2008 6:02AM]

What a waste of Tax Payers Dollars...

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Sep 21st 2008 8:36AM]

@ allislost

You're the reason this "war" on drugs is costing so much $$ and so many lives. Get a grip.

[allislost @ Sep 21st 2008 3:46PM]

@Smart People Play Tuba

I didn't know my comment was...

"the reason this "war" on drugs is costing so much $$ and so many lives"

... i should stop posting and save the country from an economic depression.

Stop taking the internet so seriously and smoke something homegrown... or in your case go to your psychiatrist, claim some illness, and enjoy the world of government approved drugs.

[Brent @ Sep 21st 2008 4:18PM]

Poor allislost. If the comment (and article) had been about buds instead of blow it'd be highest ranked. Certainly there's plenty of potheads in the engadget readership (and staff) but no one wants to stand up for the coke heads. Cocaine users and dealers are Communists; heroin users and dealers are Jews; meth users and dealers are Trade Unionists; Marijuana users and dealers are Catholics and you non drug users are Martin Niemöller.

[Knives_Out @ Sep 21st 2008 11:31PM]

yuck .. I hope that's just smoke screen coming out of the back ..

[nikster @ Sep 22nd 2008 4:11PM]

I know this was meant to be ironic - but really the so-called "war on drugs" is such a gigantic waste of time and money, it's almost worse than the failed Iraq war. We are fighting windmills, like Don Quixote, only there is no withdrawal plan and no end in sight.

I am not into drugs so I abstain, but ask yourself, would you honestly spend even $1 to make drugs more expensive for drug users, make profits for various organized crime rings and the sleazy dealer on the corner, pay for high tech toys for the border patrol (?!)... and all that for.... I don't know what. Use coke if you like, as long as you are not harming anyone enjoy, and I certainly don't want to pay $1000s per year of my tax money to stop you from doing it.

I do not know a single person where I would say if they wanted to get some (insert drug name), they couldn't get it. Not a single one. Wa$$$te of my taxpayer money, no thanks. If people can't be trusted with some drugs, create a state monopoly and hand them out on a non-profit basis. Why? No mafia, that's why.

Who benefits from the war on drugs? Organized crime. Nobody else.

[Deus Ex Machina @ Sep 21st 2008 4:05AM]

Form follows function i suppose

[Techie @ Sep 21st 2008 4:38AM]

This is sort of old news. The Navy is already developing a new type of boat call the X-Craft/FSP series (Not the FSF 1). It already has the capability of going 142 knots, GPS virtual guidance, a 180 degree radius turn while cruising at 60 knots, capable of loading at least 50 ton. Did I mention it also new type of ploy armor that resist fire and mid to high caliber ammunition (I think it’s able to handle at least .50 cal). There’s a lot of other interesting stuff but the Navy wouldn’t let me see it.

[maveric101 @ Sep 21st 2008 1:22PM]

yeah, 60 knots isn't really that fast. years ago i saw a boat in a popsci mag about a production boat that could hit well over 100 knots.

[KarlW @ Sep 21st 2008 4:12AM]

The Stilettto boat - catches the bad guys and stamps on their balls

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Sep 21st 2008 8:37AM]

If it's called the "stiletto," does that mean only women can pilot it? Or assassins?

[AJ @ Sep 21st 2008 7:19PM]

Not bad.. but it's no Knight-boat.

[YouFaceTheTick @ Sep 21st 2008 4:15AM]

Waste of money.

[Logboy @ Sep 21st 2008 4:38AM]

I snapped a picture of this thing tooling around San Diego Harbor. I was taking the Midway tour and saw it go by. It doesn't look all that stealthy....

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Sep 21st 2008 8:43AM]

Was it all "polygons" like that picture? It looks like a bad 3D render.

[drumdbeat @ Sep 21st 2008 11:06AM]

The polygons are to keep all surfaces flat, rather than curved surfaces, thus less likely to return radar signals back in the original path of whoever may be looking for them. That makes it more 'stealth'.

[NovaLand @ Sep 21st 2008 2:15PM]

There's the "old" swedish ship class called Visby http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/visby/ that is kinda like that. Ok, it only makes 35 knots and it goes deeper in water, but the weapons make up for it =) It's not like they want to catch and prosecute them anyway...

[Julian Bond @ Sep 21st 2008 4:38AM]

You've clearly got this backwards. You're average Miami based multi-multi-millionaire clearly needs one of these. Where can they buy one?

[Hulk "Hurricane " Hogan @ Sep 21st 2008 4:45AM]

Thunder in Paradise!!

[junyor Mynt @ Sep 21st 2008 5:00AM]

looks like something straight from 007 Tomorrow Never Dies

[Josh @ Sep 22nd 2008 1:52AM]

that is exactly what i thought when i saw it...

[grue @ Sep 21st 2008 5:35AM]

Should you find yourself being chased by this ship and have some scuba gear handy, keep this joke in mind:

Q: Why do scuba-divers fall backwards off the boat?

A: [ROT-13] Vs gurl sryy sbejneqf gurl'q snyy onpx vagb gur obng!

http://cackl.com/joke/view/790/Why-do-scuba-divers-fall-backwards-off-the-boat

[Smileypanda @ Sep 21st 2008 5:14PM]

I don't get it.

[Patriks7 @ Sep 21st 2008 5:48AM]

I can already see the next Batman movie...

[gabe @ Sep 21st 2008 6:03AM]

Really? Is Joker in it?

[Samboini @ Sep 21st 2008 6:35AM]

Yeah; Heath will be on leave from heaven.

[Musouka @ Sep 21st 2008 7:00AM]

Does it come in black?

[spankdog42 @ Sep 21st 2008 8:28AM]

really? Heaven? Come on.....

[viko @ Sep 21st 2008 5:49AM]

How about we put some weapons on it and take it home to Norway, oh wait, no need.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skjold_class_patrol_boat

[Sarig @ Sep 21st 2008 10:35AM]

Thought it looked a bit familiar. If I remember correctly, the Skjold prototype was leased to the US for a bit too, so they could check it out and buy the blueprints.

[Bill @ Sep 21st 2008 6:07AM]

Oh yes, we all know how delightfully well the 50 year 'war' on drugs is progressing...

[Twitchy @ Sep 21st 2008 7:45AM]

Don't worry - if it lands in the hands of the CIA then it'll be doing the running, not the chasing.

[Orinjz @ Sep 21st 2008 7:38AM]

Wait, isn't that the Puma Shuttle?

[bubba @ Sep 21st 2008 8:54AM]

"Plethora" I don't think that word means what you think it means.

[Samboini @ Sep 21st 2008 11:09AM]

Although Engadget's editing style is akin to someone inherently uncool trying not to be so, I think in this instance plethora is fine. It isn't uncommon to see them write an article then find synonyms to make themselves appear educated, even if they bare no resemblance to the intended point.

[notYou @ Sep 21st 2008 9:55AM]

He's probably somewhere in the seventh circle, inner ring forever babbling "I wish I knew how to quit you."

Well, we can only hope.

[John P @ Sep 21st 2008 10:23AM]

Though I'm probably the only one who will get this, the name is fitting if related to Eve Online, where the Stiletto is a rather fast interceptor ship. Love it.

[Pacey @ Sep 21st 2008 11:16AM]

not the only person, just the only person willing to admit it. And although it does bare the same name as the Inty in EvE, i doubt thats where the name came from

[Reader @ Sep 21st 2008 4:54PM]

Don't think this one can do 20km/s with a MWD though.

[Paul OConnor @ Sep 21st 2008 11:39AM]

Didn't James Bond defeat this thing single handed in Tomorrow Never Dies ?

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/SeaShadow-sc.jpg

[Brian @ Sep 21st 2008 1:38PM]

Argghh... you beat me to it!

Anyhow, this watercraft is amazing... it's nearly as fast as my 215hp jet ski.

70mph is amazing, on the jet ski. I can't imagine the feeling of that in a full sized watercraft in the open sea...

[Ant @ Sep 21st 2008 2:10PM]

Problem is that the custom speed boats the smuglers use do well over 110 knots topped out.

[Shawn @ Sep 21st 2008 5:09PM]

anyone remember this exact boat in a pierce brosnan james bond movie? I wanna say it's Tomorrow Never Dies, but I can't remember the exact movie

[Some Kid @ Sep 21st 2008 6:00PM]

if they just put a Pratt & Whitney or a Rolls Royce on this thing and it will go over 60 knots
wayyy over 60 knots

[El Taco @ Sep 21st 2008 6:22PM]

was I the only one who read the title as

"Carbon fiber Stiletto boat runs down babies at 60 knots"

?

[Benson @ Sep 21st 2008 10:39PM]

Yes; everyone else read:

Carbon fiber Stiletto boat runs down boobies at 60 knots.

[RAY16 @ Sep 22nd 2008 12:03AM]

After seeing that picture I got an urge to watch "Thunder in Paradise"... O_o

[DkY @ Sep 22nd 2008 2:21AM]

Looks like a copy of the Swedish prototype SMYGE,

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/HMS_Smyge?uselang=sv,

...which probably is on its way to recycling since she was the prototype for the Swedish Visby class.


//DkY