GADGETS WITH LICENCE TO THRILL
THE INVISIBLE SHIP
FROM: Tomorrow Never Dies
In his efforts to start a war between China and the UK so that he can make money from the resulting media coverage, dastardly media baron Elliot Carver uses a stealth ship, a vessel that’s completely invisible to radar. But it looks uncannily like a ship that really existed. From 1985 to 2006, the US Navy developed the experimental Sea Shadow IX-529, which was designed to test stealth technology.
Both craft have a catamaran design and are made of black, radar-absorbing materials, much like the real-world stealth bomber and stealth fighter aircraft. Also known as the Sea Dolphin II, Carver’s fictional craft had a ‘sea drill’, which it used to sink the HMS Devonshire in the film as a prelude to starting an armed conflict. It also had a range of missiles and a large crew complement. By contrast, the Sea Shadow only had a crew of
