The military is pretty psyched about their new, ultra-fast, high-tech, Batman-esque ship that scared off drug dealers in Colombia -- and chased down suspected drug runners in the Florida Straits. But there are atill some problems with 80-foot, 60-ton, $6 million experimental "Stiletto," a Pentagon report reveals.
The Stiletto's 35-foot Rigid-Hull Inflatable Boat was too heavy, and too unreliable, according to the report, obtained by Information Dissimenation. Heavy seas keep the ship from going too fast. And the ship's communications and intelligences systems need work, too. Stiletto not only can't access the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network -- the military's classified version of the Internet. The ship's maritime radar isn't "capable of accurately identifying illicit trafficking vessels."
Still, the tone of the report is triumphant. Stiletto's mission for U.S. Southern Command, to Colombia and back, "stands out as an excellent case study for how an innovative effort can be conceived, organized, planned, and executed within a very short period of time." The word around the Pentagon is that the bat-ship may be headed back down south again soon.
