[REPRINT] Robots in the Age of Pirates

[REPRINT] For navies, the current era is the stuff of versatile ships, not grand fleets. The big combatants of today’s fleets are fighting an old fight: before the USS Winston Churchill (DDG-81) captured ten Somali gunmen in January 2006, the U.S. Navy had not fought pirates in more than 150 years. But history will likely continue to favor the small and swift. When Commodore David Porter confronted West Indies pirates in 1823, his Mosquito Fleet was composed of 16 mostly small and shallow-draft ships. Within two years, he had crushed all opposition.

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[REPRINT] Rethinking USVs

[REPRINT] Unmanned surface vehicles are rapidly approaching practicality for naval uses. Although I’ve sung the praises of UAS for some time now, I’ve been a bit skeptical on the utility of their robotic surface cousins. I recently had an opportunity to check out the high and low ends of the USV spectrum in person.

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[REPRINT] Military.com Exclusive: The Piranha

Source: Military.com

http://www.military.com/video/logistics-and-supplies/military-vehicles/militarycom-takes-a-look-at-piranha-unmanned-vessel/906139587001/

[REPRINT] Boat sets fuel efficiency records

[REPRINT] With all the buzz around efforts to make cars and planes more fuel efficient, it’s easy to forget that boats have a lot of room for improvement as well.

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[REPRINT] Sea Air Space 2011: Zyvex unveils lightweight USV option

[REPRINT] Zyvex Technologies has revealed a lightweight patrol vessel technology demonstrator (TD), which it plans to roll-out in a remotely piloted variant for unmanned operations. On show for the first time at the Navy League Sea Air Space exposition in Washington, DC, the 54-ft long Piranha patrol boat which weighs 8,400lbs excluding payload, recently finished a six-month programme of sea trials near Puget Sound in the Pacific Ocean.

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Zyvex and Piranha featured in Marine News - Seakeeper Gyro

Source: Marine News

http://www.digitalwavepublishing.com/pubs/nwm/marinenews/201103/undefined?pgno=11

[REPRINT] Prepregs boost marine quality

Source: Reinforced Plastics - George Marsh

http://www.reinforcedplastics.com/view/16246/prepregs-boost-marine-quality/

Using high performance fibres that are already impregnated with resin is, say the proponents of prepregs, a sure way of building consistent quality into fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) products. Aircraft builders became convinced some time ago, but constructors of marine craft have followed suit as customers for premium yachts and some commercial craft seek top performance with structures that are exceptionally light, stiff and strong.

In the latest high-tech elaboration, Hall's single-piece seamless mast construction method has been combined with carbon nanotube technology developed by the Zyvex Performance Materials. Zyvex’s Arovex material is produced by mixing carbon nanotubes into the resin which is then combined with carbon fibres to create a prepreg. Fortifying the resin with nanotubes enhances the strength of the finished product without the need for extra reinforcing fibres or the expense of higher-modulus carbon. The new J/111 sailboat from J/Boats is an early platform for the Hall/Zyvex carbon nanotube mast technology.

Zyvex and Piranha featured in C4ISR - Piranha as counterpiracy tool

Source: C4ISR Journal December 2010

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[REPRINT] Drone Boat to be Built in Bothell

[REPRINT] Sailors take note: That fast-moving, gray and black object crisscrossing Puget Sound near Everett is not an orca, it's a Piranha. As in Piranha USV, a 54-foot-long prototype of an unmanned surface vessel (USV) that began its sea trials this past week. It's made of carbon-fiber composites like the 787 Dreamliner, but with an extra ingredient — nanotube molecules that add strength and stiffness, according to developer Zyvex Technologies of Ohio.

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[REPRINT] What's that strange, camouflage boat on Puget Sound?

[REPRINT] If you look out at Puget Sound from Seattle to Everett, you may get a peek at it -- a strange looking boat with camouflage paint. It is intended to carry out its missions unmanned. It's called the Piranha, a boat developed with private funds trying to get the attention of U.S and Allied navies as well as the Department of Homeland Security.

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