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

(interestingengineering.com)
134 points jdmark | 6 comments | 28 Mar 25 21:56 UTC | HN request time: 0.848s | source | bottom
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Rygian ◴[01 Apr 25 13:00 UTC] No.43546290[source]▶
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.

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1. nilamo ◴[01 Apr 25 13:55 UTC] No.43546830[source]▶
- Very fast - avoids radar/detection - water based

My first assumption is that this is for stealth ops. "Rescue" doesn't need those features.

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2. mrweasel ◴[01 Apr 25 14:10 UTC] No.43546988[source]▶
Fast and water based I can sort of see, but there's no point to it avoiding radar. The range of 180 miles (assuming I read that correctly) also makes it pretty pointless for search and rescue. You would have to know where someone is, the weather must be good enough to land on water, and they can't be more than 60 miles away.

A NH90 helicopter is faster, at 190mph (300km/h) and have longer range at 500 miles (800km). It also doesn't have to land to rescue someone.

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3. K0balt ◴[01 Apr 25 14:22 UTC] No.43547115[source]▶
TBF, You never know when you might need to sneak up on a shoreside compound, go in and “rescue” a bunch of people from their beds, and get back out undetected.
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4. jjice ◴[01 Apr 25 15:33 UTC] No.43548025[source]▶
Stealth and rescue can go hand and hand, no? I guess stating “rescue” still may bury the lead in that case.
5. moffkalast ◴[01 Apr 25 17:34 UTC] No.43549486[source]▶
Congratulations, you are being rescued. Please do not resist.
6. nozzlegear ◴[01 Apr 25 19:16 UTC] No.43550391[source]▶
> but there's no point to it avoiding radar

As other commenters have pointed out, search and rescue doesn't mean you're not going to get shot at. I agree with everyone else though that it's obviously going to be used for more than SAR.