Earlier this year, The Watercraft Journal alerted you to a limited run of special-equipped, handbuilt Yamaha WaveRunners from RIVA Racing that were sold for “US Government for military patrol purposes.” Now we have a better idea of their intended use thanks to an article by Forbes.
The United States Naval Special Warfare Command has been using watercraft to rescue wounded special operations officers in battlefields. Using a PWC is the perfect piece of machinery to use in this situation because they can quickly make it to the shore, pick up a wounded officer and then retreat back to safety. Given their small size, they can often times go under radar to protect the operator while preforming the rescue mission.
While the US Navy prefers to use Yamaha FX Cruiser SHO, many other countries use all different sorts of models from different manufactures. The FX Cruiser SHO are however not stock by any means. They are equipped with anti-rollers for added stability and rescue sleds in the rear. On some crafts, for added protection, machine guns are added to help defend off the enemy.
One of the reasons the United States Navy has been so powerful is that they are always looking for new ways to improve. A Florida-based company called Sofwerx is currently working on a prototype where a PWC can be ridden on tops of the water like a normal one but have the ability to submerge into the waves to be hidden. If this prototype proves to be successful, this means they could be able to launch and recover this watercraft from a submarine
Not sure where Blake got his info from about mounting machine guns on the Yamaha, but having served 20 yrs in the Navy and owned and operated various watercraft since 1995. A jet ski doesn’t have the room nor are they reinforced enough to mount a weapons system and ammo. Handheld weapons like a M4 rifle yes, but mounted weapons no.
It was supposed to imply that these have mounts to holster weapons, not hard-mounted to the deck. But it’s easy to make that mistake given Blake’s wording.