Textron nears completion of SSC prototype

[Zarvan]

Rendering of the Ship-to-Shore Connector. The USN's Program of Record calls for a total buy of 72 craft. Source: Textron
Key Points

• Subsystem testing of LCAC 100, the SSC prototype, is now underway
• LCAC replacement promises greater efficiency and other improvements over the legacy design

Textron Marine & Land Systems expects the prototype Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC) air-cushion landing craft to begin afloat testing in the next few months ahead of delivery to the US Navy (USN) later this year.

Meanwhile, the company has disclosed that it has begun work on a further four SSCs at its facility in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The SSC was designed to replace the USN's current Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) fleet, building on that design pedigree but incorporating a number of engineering improvements to increase payload, reliability, and availability, and at the same time improve 'producibility'. Examples include a new skirt that is lighter and has less drag, a strengthened cargo deck, a 74-ton payload capacity, more powerful and more fuel-efficient engines, and more efficient propellers. Another change is the introduction of a new L-3 Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Navigation (C4N) suite in the cockpit module that will enable a reduction from three crew (as per the LCAC) to two.

Following an industry completion, Textron Marine & Land Systems was in July 2012 awarded a USD212.7 million fixed-priced incentive-fee contract from the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) covering the detail design and construction of an initial SSC Test and Training Craft (designated LCAC 100). The contract also included options for a further eight low rate initial production craft.

LCAC 100 began build in November 2014. According to Bill Kisiah, vice president for marine systems at Textron Marine & Land Systems, the prototype is now nearing completion in New Orleans. "The test and training craft [LCAC 100] should be delivered this year," he said. "It should be floating and doing tethered tests by around the end of March/April timeframe.

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[Penguin]

NO remote control weapon station?