The Minerva: Where civilian and military technology collide on the water

There's a history of military innovation making its way to civilian life

Think GPS, EpiPens, and night vision technology. 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, shit

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 out 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 37, 30 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, their body, means that you can run this boat for hours on end

You can do high, fast-paced maneuvers, and at the end of the ride, you're not going to

be drained so when you get to shore and potentially have to perform your real mission you going to be up for the task At a little more than 46 feet long the newest M vessel from the Holland Michigan firm cuts an impressive figure on the water

But it's what the M-40 can do on the job that really gets your attention

So this boat carries 750 gallons of fuel, about a 700-mile range at a pretty healthy

cruising speed and fully customizable. But she's got a 15-foot beam. So for the length, she carries substantially more than any other poach

She's around 16,000 pounds with fuel and 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

Also remarkable, it's carbon fiber construction. something GhostWorks CEO Brooke Kirschbommer says sparks plenty of conversations about cost

and ease of maintenance. 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 thermoresistant

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. Ghostworks says the Minerva was manufactured at

unprecedented speed, going from design to completed sea trials in just six

months We come from the high racing space You know we as you already asked me we misfits and mavericks So we come from that world that been using carbon in maritime for over 40 years

And what that's allowed us to do is really push the envelope. You might think a bunch of engineers pushing the envelope would be something military types are comfortable with

It turns out they need some convincing. 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. A process we got to see firsthand thanks to a quick demonstration with Ian Faber

You can tune resins into different speeds. you can get them down to 20 minutes where 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 rates so we know the boat has good

bones but it's 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. Well just the fact that you can maintain your line of sight and you're parallel to the horizon

the whole time throughout the turn means that when you come off when you list to the site it doesn 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

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 Kirschbommer sees as a major selling point. 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, this corner's 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

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

All these potential customers say they are very excited about how easily Ghostworks can tailor the vessel to their needs