Good morning, DT.  "Patents mean almost nothing at all..."  Incorrect. It's a bad idea to conflate your friends useless patents with our military's.  We know that "they" have technology far beyond what the public knows about.  It makes sense that they would file the patent after R/D and proto has been proven and built...since we also know that the patent office has been compromised, patents stolen and prolly sold to China (or other enemies).  It's highly unlikely that the Navy is going to file a patent on something that is theory for our enemies to steal and copy.