[Ryan Robertson]
HELLO AND WELCOME TO ANOTHER EDITION OF WEAPONS AND WARFARE. FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS, I’M YOUR HOST, RYAN ROBERTSON. JUST AHEAD ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE, WE’RE GETTING NAUTICAL.
MEET, MINERVA. THE LATEST CREATION FROM THE FOLKS AT GHOSTWORKS MARINE. BUILT WITH CUTTING-EDGE CARBON FIBER COMPOSITE TECHNOLOGY, SEE WHY THIS COULD BE THE NEXT GO-TO CRAFT FOR AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULTS AND SPECIAL OPERATIONS.
AND WE GO ONE-ON-ONE WITH THE FOLKS FROM Q INTELL. SEE WHY THIS CIVILIAN-RUN INTEL AGENCY COULD BE JUST WHAT DOD LEADERSHIP IS LOOKING FOR IN OUR WEAPON OF THE WEEK.
BUT FIRST, SOME HEADLINES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED.
CONCERNS ARE GROWING AMONG SOME NATO MEMBERS ABOUT THE POTENTIAL PULLBACK OF U.S. SECURITY SUPPORT ON NATO’S EASTERN FRONT UNDER THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION. IN POLAND, WHICH SITS NEAR NATO’S BORDER WITH RUSSIA, THERE’S FOOTAGE FROM U.K. BROADCASTER SKY SHOWING A NEARLY EMPTY BEACH WITH LITTLE TO OFFER OFFER IN TERMS OF PROTECTION.
BUT JUST A FEW HOURS AWAY IS THE U.S. NAVY’S BASE AT REDZIKOWO (Red-zik-oh-woah), A KEY PART OF THE COLLABORATION BETWEEN NATO AND THE U.S..
CAPTAIN MICHAEL DWAN, WHO COMMANDS A TASK FORCE THERE, SAYS THE BASE IS READY TO RESPOND TO ANY THREATS FROM RUSSIA.
[CPT Michael Dwan, Commander, Task Force 64]
“You can see that these missiles are moved to enable, okay? We are on mission, right? These missiles are ready to go, okay.”
[Ryan Robertson]
DWAN ADDED THERE HAVEN’T BEEN ANY RECENT CHANGES TO THE TASK FORCE’S RESPONSIBILITIES WITH THE NEW ADMINISTRATION.
FROM ONE BORDER TO ANOTHER, PRESIDENT TRUMP AUTHORIZED THE U.S. MILITARY TO TAKE CONTROL OF FEDERAL LANDS ALONG THE SOUTHERN BORDER TO SUPPORT HIS IMMIGRATION AGENDA. POTUS ISSUED A MEMO DIRECTING KEY CABINET SECRETARIES TO FACILITATE THIS TRANSFER SO MILITARY ACTIVITIES CAN OCCUR ON DESIGNATED “NATIONAL DEFENSE AREAS.”
ONE AREA MENTIONED IS THE ROOSEVELT RESERVATION, A NARROW STRIP OF LAND ALONG THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER IN CALIFORNIA, ARIZONA, AND NEW MEXICO.
IN THE MEMO, TRUMP SAID THERE IS STILL AN “INVASION” AT THE BORDER. U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION REPORTS ONLY 7,200 MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS IN MARCH, DOWN FROM MORE THAN 189,000 LAST YEAR. C-B-P ALSO SAYS DAILY SOUTHWEST BORDER APPREHENSIONS FELL TO AROUND 230 PER DAY—A 95% DROP FROM THE PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION’S AVERAGE DAILY ENCOUNTERS OF 5,100 PER DAY.
GENERAL ATOMICS ELECTROMAGNETIC SYSTEMS IS ANNOUNCING A PARTNERSHIP WITH ISRAEL’S RAFAEL ADVANCED DEFENSE SYSTEMS TO PRODUCE A LONG-RANGE, PRECISION-GUIDED STRIKE MISSILE CALLED BULLSEYE. GENERAL ATOMICS WILL SERVE AS THE PRIME CONTRACTOR IN THE U.S TO BUILD THE BULLSEYE, ENSURING THE MISSILE MEETS U.S. MILITARY SPECS FOR LAUNCH FROM AIR, GROUND, AND SEA AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE.
SCOTT FORNEY, PRESIDENT OF G-A-E-M-S, EXPRESSED HIS EXCITEMENT ABOUT THE COLLABORATION, SAYING.
“We’re thrilled to work with Rafael to bring Bullseye to life. This missile will be made in the U.S. for our military customers, supporting a variety of important precision-fire missions for the Department of Defense and our coalition partners.”
FORNEY ADDED BY LEVERAGING RAFAEL’S EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN MISSILE DESIGN AND TESTING, THEY CAN LOWER RISKS AND DEVELOPMENT COSTS WHILE STILL DELIVERING A HIGHLY CAPABLE MISSILE AT A REDUCED PRICE POINT.
IN A PRESS RELEASE, GENERAL ATOMICS SAYS THE BULLSEYE WILL COMPLY WITH U.S. MILITARY STANDARDS AND BE MANUFACTURED AT THEIR FACILITY IN TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI.
[Ryan Robertson]
THERE’S A HISTORY OF MILITARY INNOVATION MAKING ITS WAY TO CIVILIAN LIFE. THINK G-P-S, EPI-PENS, AND NIGHT VISION TECHNOLOGY.
[Sony Pictures]
“Do you want to see something really cool?”
“Of course.”
“Turn off the lights. Industrial strength night vision goggles.”
“”Holy thing from the Fantastic Four!”
[Ryan Robertson]
ALRIGHT, SETTLE DOWN BOYS.
WHAT’S NOT TALKED ABOUT AS OFTEN IS CIVILIAN TECH BEING ADAPTED BY THE MILITARY.
BUT FOR A FEW YEARS NOW A MICHIGAN-BASED COMPANY, WITH A PROVEN TRACK RECORD IN ELITE BOAT RACING, HAS BEEN WORKING TO BRING THEIR INNOVATIONS, TO AMERICAN WARFIGHTERS. AND THAT’S THE SUBJECT OF THIS WEEK’S DEBRIEF.
IT WAS A PICTURE-PERFECT DAY ON THE POTOMAC WHEN WE SET WITH THE CREW FROM GHOSTWORKS MARINE.
“So we’re driving around right now on the Minerva, maneuvering on the Minerva as it were, pulling a hard right turn right now, going about 3730 knots on that turn right there. Very tight, very maneuverable. The speed that this craft is able to maintain through those different maneuvers without putting a lot of strain on the operator’s body, or whoever’s in the cab or body, means that you can run this boat for hours on end. ”
AT A LITTLE MORE THAN 46 FEET LONG, THE NEWEST M-HULL VESSEL FROM THE HOLLAND, MICHIGAN FIRM CUTS AN IMPRESSIVE FIGURE ON THE WATER. BUT IT’S WHAT THE M40 CAN DO ON THE JOB THAT REALLY GETS YOUR ATTENTION.
[Todd Meyer, Demo Pilot]
“So this boat carries 750 gallons of fuel, about a 700 mile range, at a pretty healthy cruising speed and fully customizable. She’s got a 15 foot beam, so for the length, she carries substantially more than any other coach. She’s around 16,000 pounds with fuel, and she, you know, full displacement with gear. She’s almost 30,000 pounds. So you’ve got 13,000 pounds of payload capacity with range, which is pretty remarkable.”
[Ryan Robertson]
ALSO REMARKABLE, ITS CARBON FIBER CONSTRUCTION. SOMETHING GHOSTWORKS CEO BROOKE KERSCHBAUMER SAYS SPARKS PLENTY OF CONVERSATIONS ABOUT COST AND EASE OF MAINTENANCE.
[Brooke Kerschbaumer, CEO, Ghostworks Marine]
“The simple answer to that is, well, it is easy to maintain. It’s actually really easy to repair, and it’s even more sustainable than every other thing that we’re using right now in the maritime space. So carbon has a really long shelf life. It’s thermal resistant, so it doesn’t expand and contract the same way that metal does. So that makes it a little bit easier when you’re putting it through its paces and it’s experiencing swift temperature changes.”
[Ryan Robertson]
GHOSTWORKS SAYS THE MINERVA WAS MANUFACTURED AT UNPRECEDENTED SPEED. GOING FROM DESIGN TO COMPLETED SEA TRIALS IN SIX MONTHS.
[Brooke Kerschbaumer, CEO, Ghostworks Marine]
“So we come from the high performance racing space. You know, we’re, as you’ve already asked me, we’re misfits and Mavericks. So we come from that world that’s been using Carbon in maritime for over 40 years, and what that’s allowed us to do is really push the envelope.”
[Ryan Robertson]
YOU MIGHT THINK A BUNCH OF ENGINEERS PUSHING THE ENVELOPE WOULD BE SOMETHING MILITARY TYPES ARE COMFORABLE WITH. IT TURNS OUT THEY NEED SOME CONVINCING.
[Brooke Kerschbaumer, CEO, Ghostworks Marine]“We get asked all the time, what happens if the boat cracks? What happens if you get a hole? We send every craft out with a vacuum sealed pack that actually you can just put on the boat, wet or dry. It’ll make it safe, so that you can bring it back in, and then we just carve out, put a new piece in, reinstate it just the same way that we would do with metal. It’s just a different process.
[Ryan Robertson]
A PROCESS WE GOT TO SEE FIRSTHAND THANKS TO A QUICK DEMONSTRATION WITH IAN FABER
[Ian Faber, Quality Assurance Engineer, Ghostworks Marine]
“You can tune resins into different speeds. You can get them down to 20 minutes where, and that’s more of a polyester vinyl ester product. What we use is epoxy, so you have a couple hours before it’s set. And again, there’s there are different formulas to achieve different different manufacturing.”
[Ryan Robertson]
SO WE KNOW THE BOAT HAS GOOD BONES, BUT ITS REALLY OUT ON THE WATER WHERE THE MINERVA MAKES ITS BEST CASE AS A POTENTIAL OPTION FOR SAILORS, MARINES, SPECIAL OPERATORS—BASICALLY ANY SQUAD THAT NEEDS TO GET IN AND OUT QUICKLY…WHILE ALSO DISTRIBUTING FREEDOM TO ADVERSARIES.
[David Wright, Tactical Consultant, Ret. USN]
“Well, just the fact that you can maintain your line of sight, your parallel to the horizon the whole time throughout the turn. Means that when you come off and you list and decide it doesn’t take your gun line up and into the air, it allows you to maintain if you were engaging a threat, it allows you to maintain eyes on that threat so that you can responsibly and actively and effectively engage that threat, protect the force ”
[Ryan Robertson]
AND THE MINERVA HELPS PROTECT ITS OCCUPANTS KNEES, BACK AND JOINTS. WHEN YOU’RE ON THE WATER IN THE CRAFT, YOU CAN’T HELP BUT NOTICE JUST HOW SMOOTH THE RIDE IS. THE PILOT AND CREW AREN’T SUBJECT TO MANY OF THE FORCES ENDURED BY OPERATORS OF MONOHULL CRAFT. IT’S SOMETHING KERSCHBAUMER SEES AS A MAJOR SELLING POINT.
[Brooke Kerschbaumer, CEO, Ghostworks Marine]
“The thing that is the most interesting that we hear from everybody, when they get off, you don’t feel like you’re going fast. When you’re on her, you feel incredibly safe. And when she turns, she’ll turn on a dime, she will hug. You know, there’s the old line from pretty woman that’s corners like it’s on rails. That’s exactly what she does. So she makes you feel so strong in everything that you’re doing, you never lose line of sight. So you can see 360 degrees around you, regardless of what type of maneuvers you’re making.”
[Ryan Robertson]
AS FOR WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE M40, A GHOSTWORKS EXECUTIVE TELLS WEAPONS AND WARFARE THEY RECEIVED LOTS OF POSITIVE FEEDBACK ABOUT THE RIDE QUALITY, LOW SLAMMING, FLAT TURNS, AND THE VERSATILITY OF THE MODULAR PLATFORM.
ADDING THEY HAVE INTEREST FROM SEVERAL NAVAL FORCES, THE COAST GUARD, SOME BORDER PATROL UNITS, AS WELL AS SOME COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS THAT SAY THEY ARE VERY EXCITED ABOUT HOW EASILY GHOSTWORKS CAN TAILOR THE VESSELS TO THEIR NEEDS.
[Ryan Robertson]
TO ATTEND A DEFENSE EXHIBITION IS TO BE SUBJECTED TO A LOT OF COMPANY’S LOOKING TO LAND SOME D-O-D BUSINESS. IT IS, FOR LACK OF A BETTER TERM, A BATTLE OF EYE CANDY.
AND AT THE RECENTLY WRAPPED NAVY LEAGUE SEA, AIR, SPACE 2025, ONE COMPANY’S DISPLAY DEFINITELY CAUGHT OUR ATTENTION–BECAUSE WELL, IT WAS AWESOME. MEET Q INTEL– OUR WEAPON OF THE WEEK.
AS FAR AS CONVERSATION STARTERS GO, BOOTH 17-47, HOME TO THE TEAM FROM Q INTEL, WAS A PRETTY GOOD ONE. WITH BRIGHT, BOLD COLORS, AND CHARACTERS SEEMINGLY CUT STRAIGHT FROM A FRANK MILLER GRAPHIC NOVEL, WE HAD TO STOP AND FIND OUT WHAT THEIR STORY IS. THAT’S HOW WE MET KEITH MULARSKI, A FORMER FBI AGENT AND NOW Q INTEL’S GLOBAL AMBASSADOR.
[Keith Mularski, Chief Global Ambassador, Qintel]
“So our goal is really to track adversaries, and we do that through collections in cyberspace. We collect, you know, communications, IP addresses, things like that. But really, our goal is to track adversaries so apt or nation state actors, criminal hackers, terrorists, that is our bread and butter.”
[Ryan Robertson]
“And when you talk about, you know, gathering the intel on, then the IP addresses, are you, like, searching your Facebook pages? You know what I mean, like, what can you kind of talk about the process of what information you’re looking to gather?”
[Keith Mularski, Chief Global Ambassador, Qintel]
“Yeah, so, so we do is, it’s all Osint that we collect. So it could be breach data that that is being sold on the cyber underground, it could be scraping a cyber underground forum, or getting these communications from the bad guys, or looking at forensic copies of servers and seeing what the adversaries are doing so those type of collections.”
[Ryan Robertson]
A QUICK LOOK AT Q INTEL’S EQUALLY EYE-CATCHING WEBSITE REVEALS A GLIMPSE INTO THEIR ETHOS; TO “DELIVER GOVERNMENT-GRADE CYBER INTELLIGENCE ON THE MOST CRITICAL THREATS TO OUR FUTURE.”
TO THIS POINT, MULARSKI SAYS MOST OF THEIR WORK IS WITH ELITE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES ALL OVER THE WORLD, BUT THEY ARE WORKING TOWARDS BUILDING BRIDGES WITH U.S. GOVERNMENT INTEL GATHERERS AS WELL.
[Keith Mularski, Chief Global Ambassador, Qintel]
“We want to enable them. We want to provide them with as much intelligence that’s out there that can be collected into open source and then allow them to use their other sensitive techniques to really take it to that next level. So, you know, for, from like a DOD standpoint, being able to get you up to a trigger point, then, for, then you to use your techniques to then take it across to that next.”
[Ryan Robertson]
ONE THING Q INTEL MIGHT HAVE GOING FOR IT, IS NOT ONLY THEIR TRACK RECORD, BUT THE RECENT CHANGE IN AMERICAN LEADERSHIP.
[Keith Mularski, Chief Global Ambassador, Qintel]
“You know, the Secretary of Defense just said, you know, that they want to use some instead of developing platforms, use off the shelf things. And we think that we’re really uniquely positioned to do that, because we have that platform already built, and also really expanding to the commercial sector too, for network defense, for Fortune 500 companies that are out there as well.”
[Ryan Robertson]
WHILE Q INTEL DIDN’T HAVE ANY MAJOR NEWS TO SHARE IN THE WAKE OF SEA, AIR, SPACE, THE PITTSBURGH-BASED START-UP DID SAY THEIR PRESENCE THERE SPARKED A LOT OF POSITIVE CONVERSATIONS AS THEY LOOK TO BUILD THOSE IN-ROADS WITH GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.
