Out-Innovating Through Dual Use: The New Blueprint for U.S. Shipbuilding
Audio Brief
Show transcript
This episode explores a vision for revitalizing American shipbuilding through the lens of Sampriti Bhattacharyya, the founder and CEO of Navier, who argues that advanced technology and small-scale efficiency can transform our waterways.
There are three key takeaways from this discussion. First, widespread adoption of marine transit has historically failed due to cost and discomfort, but hydrofoiling technology offers a ten-fold efficiency gain that solves these barriers. Second, the future of manufacturing lies in modular platform architectures, allowing single vessel designs to serve both commercial and defense needs. Third, national security strategies must pivot from massive, expensive capital ships to swarms of low-cost, scalable autonomous vessels to counter asymmetric warfare threats.
Expanding on the first point, the podcast identifies the Three Cs barrier that has prevented waterways from becoming true commuter highways: Cost, Comfort, and Convenience. Traditional boats are expensive to operate and offer poor ride quality. Bhattacharyya explains that hydrofoiling—using computer-controlled underwater wings to lift the hull—eliminates hydrodynamic drag. This results in a massive efficiency leap, combining sixty to seventy-five percent gains from the foils with additional savings from electrification. Crucially, this technology allows vessels to fly over waves rather than crashing into them, effectively eliminating sea sickness and making daily water commuting viable.
Regarding manufacturing, the discussion highlights the Rolling Skate platform architecture, a concept borrowed from the electric vehicle industry. This approach separates the hull and propulsion system from the upper structure. By standardizing the base, manufacturers can rapidly configure the same vessel for diverse uses, ranging from luxury transport and water taxis to unmanned surface vessels for the military. This modularity is essential for moving shipbuilding away from bespoke, artisanal construction toward scalable mass production.
Finally, the conversation addresses a critical shift in defense strategy. Current US naval power relies heavily on multi-billion dollar assets like aircraft carriers, which are increasingly vulnerable to cheap, mass-produced drones. The proposed solution is to treat shipbuilding as a scalable software and hardware problem. By building thousands of low-cost, long-range small vessels, the US can create a distributed, resilient network. This strategy leverages dual-use technology, where commercial revenue funds the manufacturing scale necessary to support national defense logistics.
In summary, leveraging hydrofoiling technology and modular manufacturing can unlock coastal waterways as essential infrastructure while providing a cost-effective blueprint for modern naval defense.
Episode Overview
- This episode features Sampriti Bhattacharyya, Founder & CEO of Navier, presenting a vision for revitalizing American shipbuilding through advanced technology and small-scale, high-efficiency vessels.
- The narrative explores the untapped potential of coastal waterways as "new highways" to alleviate urban congestion, arguing that previous attempts failed due to the prohibitive costs and discomfort of traditional boats.
- Bhattacharyya outlines how hydrofoiling technology, electrification, and modern manufacturing can transform maritime transport for both commercial commuting and national defense, moving away from "exquisite," expensive ships toward scalable, modular fleets.
Key Concepts
- The "Three Cs" Barrier: Historical attempts to use waterways for mass transit have failed due to three factors: Cost (boats are significantly more expensive to operate than cars), Comfort (sea sickness and slamming ride quality), and Convenience (slow speeds and limited routes). Solving these is a prerequisite for market adoption.
- Hydrofoiling as an Efficiency Multiplier: By lifting the hull out of the water using computer-controlled wings (hydrofoils), vessels can reduce hydrodynamic drag immensely. This leads to a 10x efficiency gain compared to traditional boats—roughly 60-75% from the foils and 20-30% from electrification—while simultaneously eliminating sea sickness by flying over waves rather than crashing into them.
- The "Rolling Skate" Platform Architecture: Similar to modern EV manufacturing, the "rolling skate" concept separates the hull and propulsion system from the superstructure. This allows for a modular approach where the same base vessel can be configured for diverse uses—luxury transport, water taxis, or unmanned surface vessels (USVs) for defense—enabling scalable mass production.
- Asymmetric Warfare and Shipbuilding: The current US naval strategy relies on massive, multi-billion dollar vessels (like aircraft carriers) which are vulnerable to cheap, mass-produced drones (asymmetric warfare). A modern maritime strategy should pivot toward building thousands of low-cost, autonomous, long-range small vessels that can be deployed in swarms, providing a more resilient and cost-effective defense posture.
- Waterways as Latent Infrastructure: 40% of the global population lives in coastal cities often paralyzed by traffic. Utilizing existing waterways offers a "ready-made" infrastructure that doesn't require paving roads or digging tunnels, potentially connecting affordable housing areas (like Alameda) to job centers (like San Francisco) in a fraction of the current commute time.
Quotes
- At 3:55 - "Why do you want to push water when you can glide above water? ... If you had wings underwater, just like airplanes, if you could control those wings very efficiently, you'd be above the water and only very thin blades are under the water." - Explaining the fundamental physics advantage of hydrofoiling over traditional planing hulls.
- At 5:25 - "There is no noise, no sea sickness. So it really—that experience... unlocks transportation. Like a lot of people will not take a small speedboat even if it was cheaper because people get sea sick and you don't want to be slamming onto the waves." - Highlighting that passenger experience, not just cost, is critical for mass adoption of marine transit.
- At 14:59 - "To really win, it's not about building exotic big destroyers... or autonomous boats. I think autonomy and all that is like step two. The first thing we have to figure out is: how do we build hundreds of vessels that we can scale and operate really efficiently?" - shifting the focus from flashy high-tech features to the fundamental necessity of scalable, cost-effective manufacturing.
Takeaways
- Shift transportation planning perspectives by evaluating local waterways not just for leisure or freight, but as high-speed commuter corridors that can bypass land-based congestion without new infrastructure construction.
- Apply the "dual-use" technology model to hardware startups; validate technology and generate revenue in commercial sectors (recreational/transit) to fund the manufacturing scale required for large defense contracts.
- Reframe national security and industrial strategy by moving away from "too big to fail" assets toward distributed, scalable networks of smaller, cheaper units that can be easily replaced and mass-produced.
