When I say the words Whiskey Project, what images come to mind
Right? Me too. So imagine our surprise when we pulled up to the team manning the Whiskey Project
group booth at Modern Day Marine, only to learn whiskey was code for watercraft
And I mean, it was impressive, no arguing that point, which is why it's our weapon of the week
Even parked on a display stand in the middle of the Washington, D.C. Convention Center
the 30-foot Whiskey Alpha makes an immediate impression. Touted as being crafted by warfighters for warfighters
the Alpha is essentially a product of Darren Shuback's personal experience. I left the Navy and I had a mission to build the boats that I wish we could
Throughout my tenure in the Navy, I experienced a number of different
challenges with the small craft that we were conducting our missions from
Whether they were safety, performance or just being generally fit for purpose for the mission at hand So that was our primary focus through the development of this business Based out of Sydney Australia Shuback is the Whiskey Project founder and CEO
He tells us the Alpha and its big brother, the 40-foot-long Bravo
feature modular platforms that maximize deck space and payload, making them adaptable for various operations
It was important for us throughout the development of the craft to maximize versatility with any craft we design
And you'll see here in the Whiskey Alpha, it's completely modular by design because the mission steps can change
They can change at a moment's notice, and we need to be able to adapt our craft, adapt our technology to be able to provide a fit-for-purpose solution for the mission at hand
Mission at hand, but also like the customer might be different, right
Like the Australian Royal Navy might want something different than the USMC, then the Navy, they all might want something a little bit different
And you're able to kind of give them that playground, so to speak
Yeah that right It almost like choose your own adventure with the craft Whatever you need to do however you need to adapt the craft you can do that And that not only through the back deck area here it through the modular mass system
it's through the access to power, versatility of the architecture underneath the deck here
So it's more than just the deck that you see here. Chewbacca says the Alpha and the Bravo are built for quick deployment
offering convenient access and retrieval. Both can be transported by land or dropped from the air
What we've done here is demonstrated what we believe to be an ultimate package for the customer
base level package for the customer. We've designed the craft to have that open architecture, electronic infrastructure underneath the craft here
so that they can essentially plug and play as they see fit
Whether it's by sensor system, whether it's by autonomous systems or remote control systems
whatever they want to plug in, they can plug that in. One major consideration for the design team was improving the ride for the operators Shoeback says historically crews working on small boats get pretty beat up and have to deal with knee and back problems the types of injuries that could end careers
So both boats have shock mitigating hulls built from carbon fiber composite
That means the boats are more stable and operators don't get tired or sore on the way to the fight
The design of this hull provides a 40%, up to a 40% reduction in shock onto the hull and therefore onto the human or onto the sensitive equipment that they're hosting on board
It has a lower planing threshold as well, which means it gets up onto the plane and stays on the plane a lot better than the traditional deep V craft, creating more fuel efficiency with the craft as well
As for potential customers, Shoeback tells us four of the Bravos have already been delivered to Marines in California, where they've been tested extensively for several months
And the Alpha that we were on in D.C. was actually sent to Marines in Tampa, Florida for testing and evaluation