LCAC Hovercraft: US Navy’s Champion Schleppers Get SLEPped
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The US military calls them Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC). They’re high-speed, fully amphibious hovercraft capable of carrying a 60-ton payload (75 tons in overload) over water and land at speeds in excess of 40 knots and a nominal range of up to 200 nautical miles. Carrying equipment, troops, and/or supplies, the LCAC launches from inside the well deck of an amphibious warship, then travels the waves at high speed, runs right through the surf zone near the beach, and stops at a suitable place on land.
Its cargo walks or rolls off. The LCAC returns to the surf to pick up more. Rinse. Agitate. Repeat.
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Many militaries rely on slower and less expensive LCM (Landing Craft, Mechanized) boats, LCUs, and related small landing craft. By using hovercraft, however, the US military gives itself additional options for traversing difficult terrain like marshes, broadens its potential landing zones, and buys fast ferry services that can build up a landing zone more quickly. These same traits make LCACs extremely well-suited to humanitarian missions, as shown after the South Asian tsunami and in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
A total of 91 LCACs were built between 1984-2001, and they require regular refurbishment, upgrades, and even life extension programs to keep them operational into the future. This article will cover those programs from 2005 forward…
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