If you have always wanted to get your hands on some military technology but do not have the contacts to do so, here is your chance. DARPA has put its stealth ship, the Sea Shadow, up for auction, where the opening price would stand at $50,000. No idea on what the winning bid will be like, but this is a chance for you to own some really cool tech that you can dock near your mansion at a shipyard somewhere. The Sea Shadow is the inspiration for the radar-evading vessel which was the primary base of evil media mogul Elliot Carver in the James Bond flick, Tomorrow Never Dies.
The Sea Shadow boasts a SWATH hull design, where under the water lies submerged twin hulls, sporting a propeller, aft stabilizer, and inboard hydrofoil each that enables her to remain stable despite being in choppy waters. I would like to think that the winning bid would be nowhere near the $195 million that DARPA pumped in to develop the Sea Shadow, so you would be getting a piece of history. Granted, it was launched all nearly two decades ago in 1984, but the world did not lay eyes on it until nine years later as it sported advanced stealth technology which made the US Air Force’s F-35 Lightning II so famous.
The thing is, you will need to scrap it after purchase, and according to estimates, we are talking about 499 tons of scrap metal here which should be worth far more than the $50,000 opening price.