Billy Thalheimer is the CEO of REGENT, discussing vehicle speed and maritime operational capabilities for military customers.
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Deploying 1,000 REGENT seagliders in the Taiwan Strait deters World War III
“And then in defense, in 10 years, we will not have had a World War III Because of Regents efforts and many other efforts in deterring that conflict, because we put a thousand sea gliders in the Taiwan trait and we said, try it.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
REGENT seagliders fly above sonar and below long-range radar
“By flying low, you know, we don't touch the water surface. So we're above any sonar detection and we're just over the surface of the water. So we're below long range radar in some cases. So we can actually move around and be very hard to detect. And also becau…”
Assertion Supported
Wing-in-ground craft are regulated by the Coast Guard, bypassing the FAA
“It turns out like, if you go into U S law, there's a definition of a winging ground effect craft as a vessel. We're like, that's pretty cool. So we can build this flying machine. So we have this high speed mobility. We can service this massive coastal market a…”
Opinion
Rhode Island's sailing carbon fiber engineers are more advanced than aerospace talent
“Newport, Rhode Island, it's like the center of the sailing world. So we have these incredible craftsmen and carbon fiber engineers that are actually like way more advanced than what you'd find in aerospace today.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
REGENT's 15,000-pound seaglider produces no wake while riding on its hydrofoils
“And on the hydrofoils, there's no wake at all. So it just passes you and it's imperceptible and it's 15,000 pounds.”
Assertion Open · timeframe Sep 2028
Seaglider hydrofoils handle five-foot waves, enabling 90% harbor utilization worldwide
“So we have this hydrofoiling mode that lets us take up to five feet waves and we've pulled, you know buoy data from all around the world and we're like 90 plus percent utilization in every harbor in the world.”