Әскери қондырғышHovercraft: LCAC және оның қолданылуы

Hovercraft employed as a landing craft
LCAC as a generic term for military assault hovercraft

The Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) is a class of air cushioned landing craft (hovercraft) used by the United States Navy and the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF). They transport weapons systems, equipment, cargo and personnel from ship to shore and across the beach. It is to be replaced in US service by the Ship to Shore Connector (SSC).

Two prototypes were built; JEFF A by Aerojet General in California, JEFF B by Bell Aerospace JEFF A was later modified for Arctic use and deployed in Prudhoe Bay to support offshore oil drilling. The first 33 were included in the FY82 86 defense budgets, 15 in FY89, 12 each in FY90, FY91 and FY92, while seven were included in FY93. The first LCAC was delivered to the Navy in 1984 and Initial Operational Capability (IOC) was achieved in 1986. Approval for full production was granted in 1987.

The LCAC first deployed in 1987 aboard Germantown. LCACs are transported in and operate from all the U. S. Navy's amphibious well deck ships including LHA, LHD, LSD and LPD. Ships capable of carrying the LCAC include the (3 LCACs), (1), (4–5), (2), and (2) classes. All of the planned 91 craft were delivered. Seventeen have since been disassembled or terminated for cost reasons, two are held for R&D, and 36 are in use on each coast at Little Creek, Virginia and Camp Pendleton, California. Eight minesweeping kits were acquired in 1994–1995. A service life extension program (SLEP) to extend service life from 20 to 30 years for the remaining 72 active LCACs was begun in 2000 and was scheduled to be completed by 2018. The craft operates with a crew of five enlisted Sailors. Crew positions and responsibilities are as follows: Craft Master, Navigator, Craft Engineer, Deck Engineer, and Load Master. The Craft Master is over all in charge of piloting the craft, crew coordination, crew safety, craft safety, and has the ability to terminate a mission if weather or craft conditions have degraded past the point of mission accomplishment. The Craft Engineer is responsible for power plant monitoring, is cross trained as a secondary Craft Master in the case that the actual Craft Master becomes incapacitated, is the overall subject matter expert on craft mechanical and electrical systems, and leads/advises all in flight and in mission repairs. The Navigator is over all in charge of plotting safe lanes of travel, making in flight path of travel changes as needed, ensuring on time beach landings, logging weight of equipment moved, and communications with other craft and ground forces. The Deck Engineer is over all in charge of completing in flight and in mission repairs to the craft as needed, cross trains as a Craft Engineer in the case the Craft Engineer becomes incapacitated, leads on deck firefighting evolutions, and aids the Load Master in on load and off load of cargo and troops. The Load Master is overall in charge of all deck evolutions, movement of equipment, cargo, and troops during on loading and off loading evolutions, proper loading of cargo on deck to ensure proper weight and balance of the craft is maintained and craft is level while on cushion, anchoring, mooring, and rigging for tow operations, ensuring proper restraints are used to secure cargo or calculate restrain requitements for unique or mission specific non standard equipment, maintenance of craft armament, craft armorer, distribution of weapons and ammunition on command of the Craft Master, and acts as the port look out while in flight. In addition to beach landings, LCAC provides personnel transport, evacuation support, lane breaching, mine countermeasure operations, casualty transport, and Marine and Special Warfare equipment delivery. The LCAC's cargo capacity is , slightly less if cold weather kit is installed for winter and artic operations. The LCAC is capable of carrying a 60 short ton payload (up to 75 tons in an overload condition), including one M 1 Abrams tank, at speeds over 40 knots. Fuel capacity is 5000 gallons. The LCAC uses an average of 1000 gallons per hour. Phase I. Replacing electronics components with readily available commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) components. The new electronics suite will be more reliable and less costly to operate and maintain. Phase II. Buoyancy box replacement at the Textron Marine and Land Systems facility in New Orleans, LA, to increase the LCACs resistance to corrosion. Phase II will also include the electronics upgrade of Phase I, until the entire active fleet is outfitted with the new configuration. The new buoyancy box will incorporate improvements to damage stability and trim control of the LCACs. NAVSEA transitioned from the research and development effort to the SLEP in 1999. Concurrently NAVSEA also considered additional SLEP options, including an enhanced engine to provide improved operation in excessively hot environments and an advanced skirt that is more reliable and cost effective. The Navy continued the LCAC Service Life Extension Program in Fiscal Year 2001. This program combines major structural improvements with Command, Control, Communications, Computer and Navigation upgrades and adds 10 years to the service life, extending it to 30 years. In FY 2001, it was funded at $19.9 million and extended the service life of 1 craft. The SLEP is planned for a total of 72 craft. The near term focus will be on the "C4N" [Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Navigation] program, to replace the crafts' obsolete equipment. This will focus on replacement of LN 66 radars with modern, high power P 80 radar systems. Additionally, the SLEP will include an open architecture concept, relying on modern commercial off the shelf (COTS) equipment, which will allow much easier incorporation of later technology changes, such as the precision navigation system and communications systems ¾ fully interoperable with in service and near term future Joint systems ¾ now planned. The C4N program is to complete by 2010. Through 2016, the Navy will look to incorporate other important service life enhancements: Engine upgrades (ETF 40B configuration) that will provide additional power and lift particularly in hot (, and higher) environments, reduced fuel consumption, reduced maintenance needs, and reduced lift footprint; Replacement of the buoyancy box to solve corrosion problems, incorporate hull improvements, and "reset" the fatigue limit "clock"; Incorporation of a new (deep) skirt that will reduce drag, increase performance envelope over water and land, and reduce maintenance requirements. As of September 2012, there were 80 LCACs in the U. S. Navy inventory; 39 LCACs had undergone the SLEP conversion and 7 were in progress and 4 are awaiting induction. The FY 2013 budget authorized 4 SLEP conversions per year through FY 2018. The last of the 72 SLEP conversions will be delivered to the Navy in FY 2020. After the first SLEP LCAC reached its 30 years design service age in 2015, it was to gradually be retired. In 2019, at which point the inventory of LCACs had fallen to 50, the USN began receiving the new Ship to Shore Connector (SSC), the LCAC 100. The USN inventory of LCACs was projected to fall until 2023 after which SSC replacements would increase it.

Six LCAC are in use by the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force. Approval for the sale was given by the United States Government on 8 April 1994. The craft were built by Textron Marine & Land Systems in New Orleans, Louisiana. Purchase of the first craft was included in the FY93 budget, second in FY95, third and fourth in FY99 and fifth and sixth in FY00.