If there's a dangerous situation at sea, you don't want to just get in a rowboat and go out there to check out what happened. No, you want to send the QinetiQ, an unmanned, semi-autonomous, and swift reconnaissance sentry that goes as fast as a jet ski at 50 knots. Although it looks like a miniature version of the Civil War ironclad ship Merrimac, it's about the size of a rowboat and travels so quickly and so low to the water line, it's hard to see. Its stealthy surface makes it hard to spot on radar, too.

Equipped with a camera and microwave datalink communications, you control it with a PC via RF (radio frequency), and it stays in contact even if it's up to 16 miles away. Once it gets to its destination, it bedazzles your enemies with bright lights, shows its location with a smoke marker launcher and can even yell at them with a loudspeaker that will make it seem like a talking little devil hiding out in the water somewhere. One thing's for sure, we wouldn't want one of these suckers chasing us. — Charlie White

QuinetiQ, via GizMag