LOL... One of the guys in the article claims the story being told amongst the locals is that this boat/ship/mystery machine is being built for the Israelis.

Whether it's true or not, I expect Cedarford to comment shortly.

A ghost turd haunts my bowels.

And, judging from my shorts, it sure as hell doesn't have "stealth" properties.

I expect it's being engineered for the ChiComs, and our children will be footing the bill! Either that or it's part of the IDF's secret plan to flood Gaza and patrol it with death-dealing gunboats using the stolen American riverine technology that they paid for with their money-grubbing.

I heard it was a sub. Maybe a Joo-Boat.

Joo-231

"It's a boat for a particular customer who wishes to remain anonymous"

In other words, it's for Batman.

I have two words for you: Test Bed.

Stealth (meaning low radar cross-section) hulls are becoming standard in naval architecture. The Scandinavian (Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish) navies are all deploying missile corvettes that have "stealth" hulls. The French Lafayette-class frigate has a stealth hull (versions have been sold to Saudi Arabia and Taiwan, among others). The US Navy is developing the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), with teams from General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin competing, that are largely based on the experience of the Scandinavian navies.

A 70-foot hull suggests that the Columbia River design is related to the US LCS effort.

The Israeli navy is very practical, and tends to rely more on the active radar jammers produced by its own electronic warfare industry (Elisra, Tadiran, Elta, Rafael) than in exotic hull types.

Just my opinion.

There's actually a picture of the thing on the Newhouse News homepage.

My theory? Canadian drug smugglers got their tunnel found out, so they're looking into another method of sneaking the wacky weed in.