NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY PANAMA CITY — Taking care of business in times of war, natural disaster and civil unrest requires a menagerie of U.S.military operations to bring their best assets to the table. For the Navy, that often means calling on the evolving capabilities of the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) vehicle.
The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division is home to research behind the increasing sophistication of this hovercraft. The hovercraft program supplies logistical, technical and engineering services to support the Navy’s entire fleet.
In June, the Warfare Center celebrated a milestone in the improvement of support activities. The Expeditionary Systems Division received higher-level certifications for development and services by the Capability Maturity Model Integration program used by the government to rate contractor operations.
“The certifications reflect our commitment towards developing and following organizational processes, which took six years of effort of over 100 government and contractor personnel to accomplish,” said Bob Teer, head of the Air Cushion Vehicle branch.
The Warfare Center has supported the hovercraft fleet in various ways since the first two prototypes were tested in Panama City in 1977. LCAC borrowed the best features of aircraft and surface craft designs to create a hovercraft able to operate in harsh marine environments.Most impressive are its high speed and ability to climb up and over beaches to travel miles inland when necessary.
Of the Navy’s entire fleet of 81 LCAC hovercrafts, the Warfare Center operates and maintains two of them. The legacy LCAC 66 still is used as a test platform for development, and the LCAC 91, the youngest in the fleet, was the first to undergo improvements in the “service life extension program.”
Teer said LCAC’s design had turned obsolete, requiring a program to overhaul outdated components and extend the service life by 10 years.
“This creates a lot of engineering challenges not seen on other Navy surface craft,” Teer said, adding that in-house solutions are sometimes necessary.
Today’s hovercraft is reminiscent of the landing craft that can be seen offloading battle tanks and Marines on enemy beaches in old World War II movie footage. Waterborne landing crafts of that era averaged about 12 knots for speed and access to 17 percent of the world’s beaches. Present day hovercrafts can deliver troops, weapons and equipment at speeds over 40 knots to 70 percent of the world’s – sometimes mine infested – shorelines.
As innovative as LCAC was, the aging hovercrafts are reaching the end of their lifecycle.
“When they were first built, they were only made for a 20-year service life,” Teer said.
Hovercrafts are now being modernized with furbishment of all rotating machinery, replacement of computerized and navigation systems, and enhanced engines.
“One of the challenges we face is finding qualified vendors to provide replacement parts for components that are no longer manufactured,” Teer said.
Upgrades also include a deep-skirt system that increases the air cushion from 5 to 7 feet of clearance. The most welcome improvement for sailors was the installation of air conditioning systems to maintain technology and comfort for the crew.
While the life extension program keeps the amphibious vehicles in service for now, the next generation hovercraft, the Ship-to-Shore Connector, is already in the making.
The hovercraft’s evolution is a necessity to keep up with its myriad of uses from aggressive infiltration during wartime operations to the delivery of life-saving personnel and supplies in humanitarian and disaster relief efforts.
The program takes pride in keeping the hovercrafts mission-ready. Teer said it’s only possible through the teamwork of about 150 military and contractor personnel.
”We’re very proud of the concerted efforts our engineers, technicians and logisticians have accomplished over the years in providing improved capabilities, reducing total ownership costs, and making life safer and easier for the sailors and marines in the fleet,” he said.