Voltage Vessels, a Hawaii-based startup, has submitted a six-meter rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) for US maritime defense evaluation, with the vessel assessed for potential integration into autonomous naval programs. 

The hull was produced using a material the company developed in-house and which it has named Eclipse X9 – a structural composite made from recycled PETG plastic and reinforced with chopped basalt fiber, the volcanic mineral found throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

The material has been validated by the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, and testing showed tensile and bending strength figures that exceeded HDPro, the established benchmark composite for printed marine vessels. More than 24 months of saltwater immersion data showed strength retention above 90% and water absorption below 0.4%.

Basalt fiber has been used in defense applications previously, with its chemical inertness, non-conductivity, and corrosion resistance cited as benefits. Voltage Vessels reformulated the material specifically for LFAM in pellet and filament formats compatible with industrial-scale CEAD-class printers and smaller desktop systems.

Eclipse X9 carries a property that aluminum and carbon fiber hulls cannot offer: it is electrically non-conductive with a low dielectric constant, making it effectively transparent to radio frequency signals. The company noted the RF transparency characteristic remains under evaluation across specific frequency ranges.

Voltage Vessels described its production capacity as scalable to 15,000 metric tons of Eclipse X9 material annually from US-based compounding infrastructure. The company is also pursuing regional licensed compounding partnerships to establish distributed production nodes across the Indo-Pacific, with Hawaii serving as the pilot facility.

Because PETG thermoplastic can be remelted and re-extruded without significant property loss, there is the possibility it could be shredded, re-pelletized, and reprinted at end of service life — a logistical consideration for forward-deployed forces operating in locations where resupply and waste disposal present ongoing challenges.